For the eighth consecutive year, the NBA will have a new champion.
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On Saturday, the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder lost to San Antonio 111-103 in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, extending the longest consecutive season streak in NBA history.
Victor Wembaneyama contributed to San Antonio’s victory with a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds. San Antonio will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. This is a rematch from 27 years ago, when the two teams faced each other in the 1999 finals, which was won by San Antonio, the twin tower duo of former No. 1 overall draft pick David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
The Spurs will now be led by another extremely talented big man in 7-foot-4 Victor Wembaneyama. Wembaneyama is a sensational former No. 1 pick who led his team to the Finals in his third season in the NBA, but this is his first postseason appearance.
Saturday’s Game 7 was Wenbanyama’s 18th postseason game. Wembanyana’s Spurs have already dethroned a Thunder team that had seemed poised to dominate the Western Conference for years thanks to championship grit, talent and an extremely deep pool of draft picks.
“I want four more (wins), but it’s not over yet,” Wenbanyama told NBC Sports after his win. “Go Spurs, go!”
In Game 7, Oklahoma City lost two of its best offensive creators in injured Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. The Thunder trailed by 14 points early in the first quarter, but still trailed by 11 points with eight minutes left in the fourth.
San Antonio found an advantage by playing fast, scoring repeatedly in transition and getting a point from guard De’Aaron Fox, who had nearly as many points in Game 7 (15 points) as he had in the previous two games combined.
But with seven minutes left in the game, Oklahoma City had another chance and was forced to play more conservatively on defense when Wembangyama drew his fifth foul. Less than two minutes after San Antonio increased its lead to 11 points in the fourth, Oklahoma City cut the lead to just six points.
But with four minutes left in the game, the Thunder’s chances of repeating themselves looked slimming as they ran out of timeouts and once again fell behind by 11 points. San Antonio never allowed the Thunder to come back, and even though they were trailing 3-2 at one point, they won the series in the process.
Julien Champagnie scored 20 points in San Antonio’s surprise attack. Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 35 points weren’t enough to save Oklahoma City.
It will be San Antonio’s first appearance in the finals since 2015 and New York’s first since 1999. Game 1 will be played June 3 in San Antonio, followed by Game 2 on June 5. The series will then return to New York for Games 3 and 4 on June 8th and 10th.
Both teams are playing for coaches who are only in their first full seasons.
Mitch Johnson was an assistant in San Antonio, but was promoted to interim coach last season due to concerns about the health of Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s all-time winningest coach. The interim tag was removed before this season.
A year ago, New York hired Mike Brown, who coached Cleveland to the Finals and later won an NBA championship with Golden State, as an assistant.
The Spurs will face the Knicks, who have won 11 straight games (fifth longest in a single postseason) by an average margin of 23.8 points, and have a historically dominant record. Still, San Antonio opened this season by defeating the reigning champion Thunder, who outscored their first two playoff opponents 24-1, and should be well-prepared for this challenge.
San Antonio’s road to the playoffs began with a win over Portland in the first round, followed by defeating Minnesota in six games in the second round. San Antonio won the opening game of the Conference Finals, tying the series at 2-2 in Game 4, but lost Game 5 and faced the brink of elimination, before winning two straight and defeating a team that many expected to win the NBA title.
Coming off a championship season in 2024-25, the Thunder quickly picked up where they left off, starting this season with a 24-1 record. Gilgeous-Alexander was named the league’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and helped Oklahoma City win its first two playoff series with four straight wins over the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers.
