It all comes down to this.
By the end of the night Saturday, May 30, either the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder will represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. The Thunder and the Spurs, the two best teams in the regular season, are battling in a winner-take-all Game 7 of the conference finals Saturday, May 30.
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And all eyes are on the two stars in this game: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the two-time consecutive Most Valuable Player for the Thunder, and the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, the young phenom and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year.
Awaiting either squad in the NBA Finals is the New York Knicks, who swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Here are live takeaways from Game 7 of the Western Conference finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder:
The Spurs pick-and-roll with Wembanyama as a screener destroyed the Thunder in the third
San Antonio went on a 16-2 run midway through the third quarter, and there was one offensive action the team turned to time and time again.
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Whether it was De’Aaron Fox or Stephon Castle handling the ball, the Spurs used Wembanyama as a screener, and then asked him to roll hard to the hoop. The attention paid to Wembanyama — requiring Thunder guards to leak into the paint to provide help defense — left 3-point shooter Julian Champagnie, who had 11 points in the quarter, wide open.
Second-chance points have saved the Thunder
If there’s one thing that sparked Oklahoma City’s run in the second quarter, it was its work on the offensive glass.
The Thunder gained a 9-4 edge on offensive rebounds in the first half Saturday night. It was no surprise, then, that Oklahoma City took a massive 17-6 lead in second-chance points into intermission.
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The offensive rebounding helped revive a moribund Thunder offense
The other thing offensive boards have done for OKC is to neutralize San Antonio’s transition offense; the Spurs have wanted to play quickly, and failing to scoop up defensive rebounds have robbed the Spurs of chances to get out on the break.
So did Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
A monster, 13-point second quarter from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lifted the Thunder back into this game. Gilgeous-Alexander, admittedly, was slow to start this game.
The Spurs did throw extra bodies at him anytime he got the ball in an attacking position, so some of the early issues were to be expected.
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But Gilgeous-Alexander was far more decisive in the second quarter and looked to get his looks before the Spurs were able to set their defense.
At the half, Gilgeous-Alexander has 19 points on a wildly-efficient 8-of-11 shooting and has added 5 assists and 4 rebounds.
His 19 points were most this series during a first half. He looks like an elite player who knows what’s at stake.
The San Antonio offense to start the game was impressive. Their defense was even better
Early on in Game 7, the Spurs swarmed the ball, used active hands to deflect passes and took control of the game with turnovers.
San Antonio, though the first 6:45 of the game, forced the Thunder into 5 turnovers (on 5 steals), which led to a quick 7-0 advantage on points off turnovers. Of course, it helped that the Spurs didn’t commit a single turnover during that span early, but it was the force and intensity the Spurs brought that impacted the game.
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The Thunder were better with the ball in the second quarter, which allowed them to get better looks. For San Antonio to win this Game 7, it needs to find a way to continue pressuring ball-handlers into turnovers, because that’s the recipe it can use to play with more tempo.
The Thunder need a lot more from Chet Holmgren
He has been overshadowed all series long, but Oklahoma City will have a tough time winning this game if Chet Holmgren cannot provide more — on either offense or defense.
By the midway point of the the third quarter, Holmgren had taken just 2 shot attempts (making one), for 4 points. On the other end, he collected just 2 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal. He’s a premier defender but simply hasn’t been able to protect the rim as well as he has at points during the regular season.
On offense, he’s hesitating far too much when he gets the ball in his hands.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spurs vs Thunder live takeaways, analysis from NBA playoffs Game 7
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