AS SPORTS fans call it, the best two words in sports are Game 7.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs will be the two protagonists on basketball’s biggest in Game 7 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference Finals on Saturday (Sunday, May 31, 2026, PH time).
And making this Game 7 extra exciting are the current NBA titans in two-time MVP scoring machine Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA) and the 7-foot-3 do-it-all Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.
The Spurs forced a do-or-die game after pulling off a dominating 118-91 Game 6 win on Thursday (Friday, PH time) in San Antonio, Texas, to even the series at 3-3 all.
Wembanyama carried the Spurs on his shoulder with 28 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, Dylan Harper chipped in 18 points, Stephon Castle contributed 17 points and Devin Vassell added 12 points and two blocks.
The big man said after the win that they were not ready to end their season.
“(Playing with desperation) just feels like it erases kind of all the little mistakes that we do that are human nature, whether it’s in the regular season or previous games,” Wembanyama said in ESPN report. “Just got to fight that all the time and put your backs against the wall. It feels like it’s the best opportunity to be able to play.”
The Spurs locked down on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was limited to a team-high 15 points on a dismal 6-for-18 shooting.
“I don’t know that it was necessarily anything we did wrong,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we were ready to play. I felt confident going into the game, and I felt confident at halftime. It had the makings of a road win if we could be the team that threw the punch in the third and they were the team that did that.”
San Antonio drew first blood in Game 1 of the West Finals, then Thunder answered back by winning Games 2 and 3. The momentum then shifted back and forth, with the two teams alternating wins from Game 4 through Game 6.
In the past six games, Wembanyama is averaging 28.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks, while his rival Gilgeous-Alexander is posting 24.8 points, 7.2 assists, and 2.7 rebounds per game.
Game 7 will be played in a roaring Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. / RSC
