The Oklahoma City Thunder's title defense crashed to a halt Saturday night at Paycom Center, where the San Antonio Spurs slipped out with a 111-103 win in a winner-take-all Game 7. The loss ends OKC's bid to repeat as NBA champions and punches San Antonio's ticket to the NBA Finals.
Spurs Finish The Job In Oklahoma City
San Antonio closed out the series with a 111-103 victory at Paycom Center, according to CBS Sports. It was a tense, back-and-forth night, the kind of game that kept the building on edge until the visitors finally created a little breathing room in the closing minutes and held on.
Thunder Short On Bodies
Oklahoma City went into Game 7 shorthanded, with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell sidelined, and local coverage noted the Thunder struggled to find reliable secondary scoring behind their stars, per KOKH. Photographs from the game also captured a hard third-quarter collision between Victor Wembanyama and Jaylin Williams at Paycom Center, a snapshot of how physical the series had become by the time it reached its breaking point.
Key Numbers That Decided It
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poured in 35 points and added nine assists, but he did not get quite enough support. The box score from CBS Sports shows he went 12-for-21 from the field and 9-for-11 at the free-throw line. For San Antonio, Victor Wembanyama finished with 22 points and seven rebounds while Julian Champagnie chipped in 20, and the Spurs shot 40-of-88 from the floor, including 17-of-40 from 3-point range, compared with Oklahoma City's 37-of-83. Those slim shooting margins loomed large in the final stretch.
What Comes Next
San Antonio moves on to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which are set to tip off Wednesday, June 3, according to NBA.com. For Oklahoma City, the conversation now shifts to the offseason, where health updates and roster decisions will dominate the agenda as the Thunder regroup around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
