Victor Wembanyama powered San Antonio (71-24 straight up, 54-39-2 against the spread) to a 122-115 win at Oklahoma City in double overtime of Monday’s Game 1 as a 6.5-point road underdog. The Spurs won outright to cash +200 money-line tickets, while bettors on the ‘under’ suffered an unfathomably Bad Beat when the ‘over’ hit in the second extra session.
Wembanyama became the youngest player – by 209 days – to score at least 40 points and grab 20 rebounds since Lew Alcindor pulled the trick for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970 NBA Finals. He joined Charles Barkley, Moses Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players in NBA history to have a 40/20 performance in a conference finals game.
Wembanyama finished with 41 points, 24 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and one steal in more than 48 minutes of playing time. He made 14-of-25 field-goal attempts, 1-of-2 attempts from downtown and 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.
San Antonio jumped out to a 12-3 lead early before OKC (72-19 SU, 44-46-1 ATS) rallied to take brief leads late in the first quarter. It was 27-27 at the end of the opening frame, but the Spurs outscored the Thunder 24-17 in the second stanza to take a 51-44 lead into halftime.
At that point, gamblers had a chance to take OKC, which entered the series opener as a -180 ‘chalk’ to repeat as NBA champions, at -7 in the second half. That equated to the Thunder at pick ’em for the adjusted line, and my hand is raised for taking what appeared to be low-hanging fruit.
Shai Gilgous-Alexander, who just bagged his second straight NBA MVP award, had just endured his worst first half in a span of 270 games including postseason contests. He went 1-of-5 from the field and was limited to four points, which was his first time being denied at least two buckets before halftime since Oct. 29 of 2023.
Meanwhile, Wembanyama had 14 points and 10 boards before the break, dunking over a slew of different defenders OKC head coach Mark Daigneault was sending at the 22-year-old superstar.
The Thunder opened the third quarter with a 14-6 run to take a 58-57 lead, but San Antonio didn’t blink. The Spurs surged back into the lead and took an 87-77 advantage with 9:10 remaining on Wembanyama’s dunk off an alley-oop pass from Devin Vassell.
However, Alex Caruso continued to keep OKC in the game with his hot shooting, delivering a go-ahead trey for a 95-94 edge with 1:51 left in regulation. Julian Champagnie countered with a monster 3-ball of his own from the corner – that was well-contested by Chet Holmgren – to put the Spurs back in front 97-95, but the Thunder’s Jalen Williams responded with a floater in the lane to tie things up with 52.2 ticks remaining.
San Antonio rookie Dylan Harper drained a pair of free throws with 37.1 seconds left, but Gilgeous-Alexander tied it up again with two free throws of his own. Next, Wembanyama made a short jumper in the paint with 11.5 ticks remaining.
After the Thunder set up a play during a timeout, Gilgeous-Alexander got into the lane for a tying layup with 3.1 seconds left. Following a San Antonio timeout, Wembanyama caught the inbounds pass at the free-throw line, went to his left off the dribble but his shot attempt was rejected by Holmgren to create free hoops in OKC.
The Spurs went ahead 105-101 thanks to buckets from Stephon Castle and Wembanyama. Finally, OKC got its first points in OT on Caruso’s 23-footer to cut the deficit to one with 2:21 left. That ignited a 7-0 surge with Williams and SGA following Caruso’s triple with baskets of their own.
After both teams traded stops, Wembanyama sensed a two-for-one opportunity early in the shot clock and drained a deep trey from beyond the timeline with 26.3 seconds remaining to knot the score at 108-108. Williams missed a potential game winner from 26 feet out with 4.3 ticks left, resulting in a second extra session.
Wembanyama took control in double OT, staking his club to a four-point advantage with back-to-back buckets. After OKC’s Cason Wallace drilled a triple to cut the deficit to one, Harper answered with a three-point play the hard way.
When Williams buried a 3-ball, the Thunder trailed 115-114, but it would get no closer. At the other end, Wembanyama dunked on Holmgren’s face and was fouled before completing the 3-point play.
After getting a stop, Wembanyama decided to close the show. First, he dunked again off an alley-oop dish from Castle. Next, he swatted Williams’s shot to set up a pair of free throws from Harper with 14.5 seconds remaining.
“It was a war of wills,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “The levels of mental toughness exuded by both teams … we needed every second from everybody that played.”
Johnson got a lot more than just Wembanyama. Harper produced 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists compared to only one turnover. Castle coughed up 11 turnovers, but he also had 17 points, 11 assists and six boards.
Vassell and Kedon Johnson scored 13 points apiece, and Champagnie had 11 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
In the losing effort, Caruso had a team-best 31 points, two steals, two blocked shots and two rebounds on 8-of-14 makes from downtown. SGA played more than 51 minutes, finishing with 24 points, 12 assists and five steals. He made only 7-of-23 FGAs, though.
In his return from a six-game absence due to a hamstring strain, Williams had 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Holmgren had the huge block to force OT, but he was mostly a non-factor with eight points, eight boards and two rejections.
San Antonio dominated the glass with a 61-40 rebounding advantage.
“We have to get better from this game,” Daigneault said.
As of Tuesday morning, most books had OKC installed as a 6.5-point home favorite for Wednesday’s Game 2. The total was 215.5 or 216 points, while the Spurs were in the +195 to +220 (Circa) range on the money line.
DraftKings has adjusted the series price with the Thunder at -115 odds, while San Antonio is -105. The book’s updated numbers to win the NBA Finals have OKC as a +125 ‘chalk.’ The next-shortest odds belong to the Spurs (+155), Knicks (+475) and the Cavs (+2000 or 20/1).