VICTOR Wembanyama delivered a dominant all-around performance as San Antonio Spurs bounced back with a convincing 103-82 victory over Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines) in San Antonio, Texas.
The French star finished with 33 points, including three three-pointers, to go with eight rebounds, five assists, and three blocks as the Spurs tied the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
De’Aaron Fox posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds along with five assists, while Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell chipped in 13 points apiece for the Spurs.
San Antonio responded strongly after absorbing a 123-108 defeat in Game 3, controlling the contest from the opening quarter and never allowing Oklahoma City to recover.
After being heavily outscored by the Thunder’s reserves in Game 3, the Spurs’ bench answered with 30 points while keeping the Thunder’s second unit to 34. San Antonio’s ball movement also proved crucial, recording assists on all 10 of its field goals in the opening quarter.
The Spurs improved on both ends of the floor, holding the defending champions Thunder to just 33 percent shooting and limiting them to 6-of-33 from three-point range.
The Spurs established control early behind a 16-0 run in the first quarter that turned an already fast start into a double-digit advantage. One of the key sequences came when Vassell threw an alley-oop pass to Wembanyama for a dunk after blocking a Thunder attempt at the rim.
The Thunder managed only 38 points in the first half, matching one of their lowest-scoring halves across the regular season and playoffs in recent years.
Oklahoma City struggled offensively throughout the night, producing one of the lowest scoring outputs in franchise playoff history. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points but shot only 6-of-15 from the field.
Isaiah Hartenstein added 12 markers, with eight coming early in the opening quarter, Isaiah Joe chipped in 11 points, while Chet Holmgren and Kenrich Williams ended with 10 apiece./PN
