Wemby’s night: 41 points, 24 rebounds, and a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference finals

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The longest night of Victor Wembanyama’s NBA career was over. His postgame media responsibilities were done, and he had just seen his father and a few other people in a quiet hallway near the San Antonio Spurs locker room.

He didn’t walk back to the room. He got a ride — in a wheeled office chair, pushed by a Spurs staffer.

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“Save some steps,” Wembanyama said.

Hey, after the night he had, energy was probably in short supply anyway.

A 41-point, 24-rebound playoff game. Only a few people in the history of basketball had done that — Wilt Chamberlain eight times, Hakeem Olajuwon twice, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once, Charles Barkley once.

Add Wembanyama to that list now, after his latest masterpiece — in a career-high 49 minutes — carried the Spurs to a 122-115 double-overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night.

“The best player in the (expletive) world,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle announced for all the world to hear in a postgame interview on NBC.

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Officially, no, that’s not the case. The best player in the NBA world right now is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the player who got his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award in a pregame ceremony with Wembanyama looking on. It was an award Wembanyama wanted — and still wants. Seeing Gilgeous-Alexander raise that trophy, oh, it had an effect on the 7-foot-4 French star.

“He’s competitive. If you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want. … If that’s motivation, we all get motivated by different things,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “As a competitive person, that would be my approach and perspective.”

Did it matter?

“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” Wembanyama said. “And I want to get that trophy many times in my career.”

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Are you the best player?

“The world is 8 billion people,” Wembanyama said. “That’s 8 billion opinions.”

Wembanyama’s final line: 14 for 25 from the field, 12 for 13 from the foul line, and his lone 3-pointer came late in the first overtime, tying the game from well beyond the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/wembys-night-41-points-24-045757390.html

Author : TIM REYNOLDS

Publish date : 2026-05-19 04:57:00

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