Victor Wembanyama scored 28 points as the San Antonio Spurs forced a decisive game seven in their thrilling NBA Western Conference finals series against Oklahoma City, leading throughout an emphatic 118-91 win Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Spurs were aggressive for the duration of a win-or-go-home clash with the defending champion Thunder, roared on by a boisterous crowd to keep alive their hopes of reaching the NBA Finals, where the red-hot New York Knicks await.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dylan Harper added 18 points from the bench as San Antonio bounced back from Tuesday's disappointing loss to tie up the best-of-seven series at 3-3.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The final game takes place in Oklahoma City on Saturday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We ain't done nothing yet," said Wembanyama, who collected 10 rebounds and made three blocks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When your back's against the wall, it feels like it's the best opportunity," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Wembanyama, after an uncharacteristically poor game five, arrived at his first-ever playoff elimination game with ferocious intent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The seven-foot-four French superstar -- this season's NBA Defensive Player of the Year -- came out of the blocks fast, following his teammate Julian Champagnie's quickfire three-pointer with two pinpoint range efforts of his own, plus a block, to open a 9-2 Spurs lead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Reigning two-time Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander -- who poured in 32 points in the previous game -- looked unsettled for the Thunder.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He was swarmed by the Spurs defense, missing multiple mid-range efforts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The sharp-shooting Spurs' eight three-pointers in the first quarter were their most of any post-season quarter this year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Wembanyama and San Antonio's energy and shot accuracy dipped slightly in the second quarter. The Thunder headed into the half-time break somehow just seven points down.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But the Spurs went on an astonishing 20-0 run in the third quarter to put the game out of sight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
They were assisted by a disintegrating Oklahoma City offense that missed 13 field goal attempts in a row and went scoreless for more than seven minutes, scoring just 13 points in the third quarter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With six minutes left, and the Spurs up 28 points, both teams' starters were benched to rest up for the decider, and the home crowd began to sing "Ole".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- 'Do or die' -<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Tonight was do or die, and a lot of fans are going to be happy," said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He vowed his team would be "ready to go into a hostile environment" against the defending champions, and expects Oklahoma City to bring "their best punch" in game seven.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We're gonna go with our eyes wide open and expecting nothing less," he promised.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Having spurned this chance to become the first team to reach back-to-back NBA Finals since the Golden State Warriors in 2019, the Thunder will have to seize another opportunity on home court this weekend.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"When you lose the way we did tonight, there's a lot more we could have done, that's what we'll look at," said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We'll go out there and try to do our best to execute those things in game seven to give ourselves the best chance to win."<\/p>\r\n\r\n