The 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 outlasted being an appropriate description for the glorified free-throw shooting contest that closed out the game. Five intentional fouls were called in the final nine seconds of the game.
The last field goal of the night was an uncontested dunk by Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 14.9 seconds to play, 5.5 seconds after returning 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 deemed harmless; with the shot clock turned off, there was no need to risk overreacting to Gilgeous-Alexander’s arrow to the basket. Notice how Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox lays off Gilgeous-Alexander once beaten, and how Fox’s teammates all stayed home on the perimeter.
But the shot of the night, and the last one that mattered to the outcome, came all the way back with 2:32 left to play. The Thunder deployed 6-foot-5 defensive maven Alex Caruso on the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama with a 101-100 lead.
Caruso did well to bother Wembanyama enough to force the phenom outside of the paint. But that 11-inch height differential, combined with Wembanyama’s skill, put San Antonio in front for good:
The Spurs went on to outscore the Thunder 9-6 from the line in the waning minutes. The Thunder had to foul to give themselves a chance while the Spurs fouled to preserve their one-possession lead, but the game was decided before that.
The Thunder had multiple possessions after Wembanyama’s go-ahead field goal. Lu Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander missed 3s on one possession. Then Jalen Williams and Caruso blew a fast break opportunity on the next possession. When the Spurs’ Devin Vassell missed a free throw with 1:20 left, Gilgeous-Alexander committed a loose-ball foul on Wembanyama, who made both free throws to put the Spurs up 105-101.
Oklahoma City had two more chances to make it a one-possession game, but Jalen Williams missed a shot, and Gilgeous-Alexander took too much time trying to shake San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, costing the Thunder a chance at a 2-for-1. That led to all the fouls, along with prayers the Spurs would miss their free throws.
The last two-minute report might show the Thunder should have gotten to the line even more. When Williams intentionally missed a free throw with 1.5 seconds left, Caruso swooped in for the rebound and one last chance to tie the game, but didn’t get a whistle on his tip-in attempt despite what appeared to be contact by Vassell, and the game ended.
Perhaps there should have been another whistle to go with all the ones that came before Caruso’s desperation attempt. But the Spurs will take the statement win. And the Thunder, who led by as many as 16 points, had their chances before the game came down to intentional fouls.
