San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-109 on Saturday night to advance to Tuesday’s NBA Cup championship against the New York Knicks in Las Vegas, with the most appropriate term to describe an ending that amounted to a glorified free-throw shooting contest. Five intentional fouls were called in the last nine seconds of the match.
The final basket of the night was an uncontested dunk by Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 14.9 seconds left, 5.5 seconds after Spurs center Victor Wembanyama split a pair of free throws to give the Spurs a 106-103 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander’s hard drive to the basket was ruled harmless; with the shot clock off, there was no need to risk overreacting to Gilgeous-Alexander’s dart to the basket. Notice how Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox sacks Gilgeous-Alexander once he’s beaten, and how Fox’s teammates all stayed home on the perimeter.
But the shot of the evening, and the last one that counted for the result, came back with 2:32 to play. The Thunder deployed 6-foot-5 defensive maven Alex Caruso over the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama with a 101-100 lead.
Caruso did well to bother Wembanyama enough to force the phenom out of the paint. But that 11-inch height differential, combined with Wembanyama’s skills, definitely put San Antonio ahead:
The Spurs then dominated the Thunder 9-6 at the line in the final minutes. The Thunder had to foul to give themselves a chance while the Spurs fouled to maintain their one-possession lead, but the game was decided before that.
The Thunder had several possessions after Wembanyama’s go-ahead. Lu Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander missed 3 seconds on one possession. Then Jalen Williams and Caruso missed a fast break opportunity on the next possession. When the Spurs’ Devin Vassell missed a free throw with 1:20 left, Gilgeous-Alexander fouled Wembanyama, who made both free throws to give the Spurs a 105-101 lead.
Oklahoma City had two more chances to make it a one-possession game, but Jalen Williams missed a shot and Gilgeous-Alexander took too long trying to shake San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, costing the Thunder a 2-for-1 chance. That led to all the fouls, as well as prayers that the Spurs would miss their free throws.
The final two-minute report could show that the Thunder should have gotten to the line even more. When Williams intentionally missed a free throw with 1.5 seconds left, Caruso dove for the rebound and one last chance to tie the game, but didn’t get a whistle on his putaway attempt despite what appeared to be contact from Vassell, and the game ended.
Perhaps there should have been another whistle to accompany all those that preceded Caruso’s desperate attempt. But the Spurs will take the victory. And the Thunder, who led by 16 points, had their chances before the game came down to intentional fouls.
