Victor Wembanyama and Spurs continue to do tests they should not be old enough to take

If there was a part of you that was still wondering if the San Antonio Spurs were really ready to skip all the traditional steps and win a title in their first season this season, you just got your answer. Yes, they are ready. They may not. There is still a long way to go. But they are ready.

Facing their first elimination in the playoffs, and for most of the roster for the first time in their careers, the Spurs put on an absolute clinic Thursday with a 118-91 victory over the Thunder to reach what has become the classic Western Conference finals at three games apiece.

Game 7 is Saturday night. It won’t get here anytime soon.

Until then, let’s take a look at what we just saw from a team that started this series with the youngest starting team in conference finals history. Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper combined for 63 points, 21 rebounds and 15 assists in combining, as a trio, a complete game.

Don’t take that for granted. Wembanyama is 22 years old. Castle, in his second season, is 21 years old. Harper, a rookie, is 20 years old. These guys should be very young in their NBA development. At the beginning of this year, anyone would have called the Spurs a big step do playoffs, and here they are, in the conference finals against the wall, putting the screws to the defending champions like a bunch of 10-year vets.

Yes, we have to talk about Wembanyama first. After scoring a goal in Game 5, he did everything he had to do to lead his team on Thursday. He was aggressive from the start; It’s probably not fair for Wemby to start his night with three of his first four shots from 3 and work from there, on the contrary, but the important point is that he attacked aggressively, he didn’t catch the ball and try to retreat to the 3-point line against strong defenders, he just saw his shot and took it. And when the first few fell, it took off from there as he finished with 22 of his 28 points in the first half.

The totality of the star elements. In such a big game, don’t let someone else ride the ball. It was the latest confirmation that Wembanyama was cut off from the right things. Call it the clutch gene. Good old guts. Whatever definition you want to use, you know it when you see it in the player. There was no way he couldn’t stand up in this game, and once he got it right, it wasn’t dangerous for his teammates to follow him.

The Spurs were hot all the way from the 3rd to the start, which served several purposes. It obviously put points on the board and made the Spurs go ahead by 13 points in the first quarter, but in taking the first quality shot available rather than trying to recklessly crash through OKC’s strong defense (Castle really kept his inner Russell Westbrook contained on Thursday night), it also reduced their risk of turnover.

And that paid off big time. At the end of the day, the gun, anywhere shot, better than good, and the Spurs walked that fine line between aggressiveness and creative control all night. They had 13 turnovers on the night, which is still a good number, but they were under 10 before garbage time. That’s a huge number for any playoff game, let alone facing elimination from a team like OKC.

Thunder is a straitjacket defense. They came into this game averaging 17.4 turnovers per game in these contests on defense. San Antonio, which has struggled to hold on to the ball in this series, cut that number midway through a competitive period of the game when, obviously, emotions should have been running high.

Castle, who coughed up 20 runs in the first two games of the series and basically played like human football, scored just one on Thursday. Same with Harper. Honest to god, any team in the league would love to have one of these two stars, and the Spurs have both. With Wembanyama. I got all three in three consecutive drafts with the No. 1 pick. 1, No. 4 and No. read about here).

Right now, it’s all about the Spurs taking another big step in their meteoric NBA rise. Let’s go back to the turnovers. Or the lack of it. Of course, this was a big reason for the Spurs to win this one, maybe mainly because it allowed them to defend themselves all night (a big part of the struggles of the SGA, which is legal), but the big picture, the statement of this kind of composure, in this kind of game, against this kind of enemy, we make about a team led by three guys under the age of 22. up.

Everyone in the NBA heard it. It’s one thing to have talent as a small group. It’s one thing to have this kind of moxie built up to go with it. Hell, De’Aaron Fox is San Antonio’s veteran starter by a mile. If anyone was to be trusted with a moment of this magnitude, the NBA’s common sense would have elevated him, but he finished with five points on 1-of-9 shooting. It was the children who carried the day.

Devin Vassell (25 years old) shoots for Premier offense Klay Thompson. To call the way he came out fearlessly burying 3s early in this game would be a challenge. Julian Champagnie, also just 24 years old, couldn’t shoot to save his life early in this series but he got hot in Game 5 and did it in the first quarter to set the tone for San Antonio.

Did you think the Spurs might be in trouble when, despite their first-half drubbing, OKC was somehow within seven at halftime? Like maybe they were going to start pushing, playing not to lose rather than putting their foot on the gas when the made-there experience of Dunder was going to start squeezing the teenage emotions to the surface? Think again.

Vassell hit a 3 to start the second half, and San Antonio outscored OKC 32-13 in the third quarter while holding the Thunder to no points over a span of seven minutes and 28 seconds, the longest scoring drought by a playoff team in any playoff game since 2019. Game over.

All these small victories are steps towards the championship. Taking care of business as a favorite, as the Spurs did in the first round against Portland. Back from the opening series tie, the Timberwolves, who had reached two straight conference finals, won Game 5 in a 2-2 series tie. It faces liquidation for the first time on Thursday.

These are many steps taken by groups over a period of years. Once upon a time. The Spurs take on one giant after one season, gaining experience and victory at the same time. There’s still a big one to take with a Game 7 win on the road, but even if they don’t, the decision is officially in. This is a championship team. The same can be said for the Thunder and Knicks. Only one of them can be left standing in three weeks. But Spurs are ready. Game 6 is the biggest test anyone on this team other than Harrison Barnes has ever faced on the basketball court. And they passed it with flying colors.