(Reuters) – Victor Wembanyama scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, lifting the San Antonio Spurs to a 118-91 home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.
The teams will play one last time in Game 7 on Saturday in Oklahoma City, with the winner advancing to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
After the Thunder’s 127-114 win in Game 5 on Tuesday, when Wembanyama had 20 points and six rebounds, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team needed more from its superstar.
It didn’t take long for Wembanyama to show a difference from Game 5. He sank two 3-pointers and blocked a shot in the game’s first 90 seconds as San Antonio jumped in front early and never trailed.
The Spurs led by 15 early in the second quarter, but the Thunder closed the deficit to five just before halftime before going into the break trailing by seven.
San Antonio ratcheted up its defense late in the third and put together a 20-0 run to put the game away by the end of the quarter.
The Thunder missed 14 consecutive shots, going nearly eight minutes between points.
Oklahoma City scored just 13 third-quarter points, its fewest in a quarter this season.
With the game out of reach after three quarters, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault sat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the fourth quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a team high of just 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting. It was Gilgeous-Alexander’s lowest-scoring output since he scored 14 in Game 3 of last season’s Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dylan Harper scored 18 points off the bench for San Antonio while Stephon Castle added 17 points and nine assists with just one turnover.
While the Thunder’s bench has dominated the Spurs’ for much of the series, San Antonio’s reserves outscored Oklahoma City’s 46-38 in Game 6.
The Spurs got going early with a barrage from beyond the arc.
San Antonio hit eight first-quarter 3-pointers, three from Wembanyama.
The Thunder were just 1 of 6 from beyond the arc in the first.
Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams returned after missing the previous three games with a hamstring strain, but he played just 10 minutes, scoring one point. He came off the bench for the first time since Dec. 10, 2022, during his rookie season.
