San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder live updates: Wemby leads Spurs to epic Game 1 win in double OT

With the game in 2OT and everyone on the court completely gassed, Victor Wembanyama took over and just kept making plays.

Behind nine points from Wembanyama in the second overtime, the Spurs pulled away for the 122-115 win to take a 1-0 series lead.

Wembanyama finished the game with 41 points, 24 rebounds and 3 blocks, and he scored nine straight to force the second overtime then give the Spurs control in that frame.

Victor Wembanyama came out and scored four fast points to get the Spurs the lead in 2OT, and after a Cason Wallace 3-pointer Dylan Harper had the and-1.

115-111 Spurs with 2:04 left.

Is the rest of the series going to be able to live up to Game 1?

After that ridiculous Wembanyama 3-pointer and a couple of missed shots, we are headed to a second overtime. Both teams are totally gassed; it may come down to which team can play through that and make fewer mistakes.

It looked like the Thunder were in control of the OT, then Jalen Williams missed a dagger jumper and Victor Wembanyama did this.

It’s 108-108 with 0.7 left.

WHAT A GAME!

After a driving Shai Gilgeous-Alexander layup on a brilliant Iverson cut design by Mark Daigneault tied the game at 101-101, Chet Holmgren blocked Victor Wembanyama’s shot to win it, and we are headed to overtime.

Current Odds: OKC (-154), San Antonio (+120)
Spread: OKC -1.5
Total: 223.5

Seconds after Victor Wembanyama gave the Spurs a two-point lead, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s driving layup tied Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals at 101.

Chet Holmgren would come through on the other end, blocking Wemby’s shot attempt to force overtime.

SGA hit two free throws to tie it. The Spurs just came down, got the ball to Wembanyama at the free throw line, and he powered up a shot over Jalen Williams and hit it.

101-99 with 11.5 to go.

On a scramble of a play where the Thunder just could not corrale the ball, Dylan Harper was fouled by Chet Holmgren on his shot, hit his free throws.

99-97 Spurs with 37.4 left.

This game has more than lived up to the hype — and we’re not done.

Game 1 is tied 97-97 with 53.4 seconds remaining. SGA had the chance to give the Thunder the lead but missed the layup.

We’re not kidding, this game is going down to the wire.

Bottled up all night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went right at Victor Wembanyama, got the and-1 bucket and gave the Thunder life, trailing by four, 89-85, with 5:26 remaining.

This is going down to the wire.

It’s not rust, it’s the Spurs defense.

San Antonio is not letting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or anyone on Oklahoma City get comfortable, while the Spurs continue to power their way inside and get buckets — they lead the points in the paint battle 36-22.

That has the Spurs up nine, 89-80, with 7:30 remaining.

Current Odds: OKC (+300), San Antonio (-425) Spread: San Antonio -5.5 Total: 204.5

Victor Wembanyama had 7 points, 3 rebounds and an impressive block at the rim of Jalen Williams in the third quarter. Behind that, the Spurs not only retook the lead but held it going into the fourth quarter, 80-73.

The Spurs continue to bottle up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is 3-of-10 shooting on the night for 10 points. Alex Caruso leads the Thunder with 19 including five 3-pointers, outside of him the Thunder are 7-of-23 from beyond the arc.

Wembanyama has 21 points and 13 rebounds. Dylan Harper has 13 and is making plays.

Current Odds: OKC (+160), San Antonio (-210) Spread: San Antonio -3.5 Total: 205.5

The Thunder found their rhythm in the third quarter, hitting 3-of-5 from 3-point range in the third, plus grabbing offensive boards and just flat-out hustling — Cason Wallace forcing an 8-second violation.

A Lu Dort 3-pointer, after he missed his first four, caps off a 12-4 OKC run, and the Thunder have a 58-57 lead with 7:33 left in the third.

While San Antonio led most of the first half, they didn’t become the betting favorite until the final minute of the first half. Here are the second-half odds, via our partners at DraftKings:

Current Odds: OKC (-110), San Antonio (-120)
Spread: San Antonio -1.5
Total: 202.5

Before the game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was handed his second MVP trophy by Adam Silver. San Antonio came in with a game plan to keep the MVP from taking over and beating them.

SGA has seen a lot of double-teams to force the ball out of his hands, and when he’s kept it he’s 1-of-5 shooting for the game with four points. The problem is he only has five assists — he’s making the pass to the open man, the Thunder are just missing shots. OKC players not named Alex Caruso are 2-of-15 from 3-point range, and as a team the Thunder are shooting 37.2%.

That has San Antonio up 51-44 at the half.

Wembanyama had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Stephon Castle has 11 points. While the Spurs are not lighting it up from the floor (41.9%), they are hitting enough 3s (7-of-19) to have a lead at the break.

Or, look at it this way: Wembanyama is +15 in the first half, Gilgeous-Alexander is -15.

Just a reminder that Victor Wembanyama is an alien.

San Antonio went on a 17-7 run at one point and took the lead that they have not surrendered, leading 42-37 with 4:26 left in the first quarter.

The Spurs’ defensive strategy is clear and echoes what the Lakers did last round: Get the ball out of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands and make anyone else beat you. The result of that is the Thunder getting a lot of open looks from 3, but they are 5-of-20 from deep, and Alex Caruso has four of those makes.

Through the first 14 minutes of this game, the Spurs and Thunder are a combined 7-of-28 from beyond the arc. The Spurs are 5-of-15 with Keldon Johnson hitting two. Alex Caruso hit two for the Thunder.

It’s 36-29 Spurs with 9:09 left in the second quarter, when the Thunder call a timeout.

We knew it was going to be an even series, and it couldn’t be more even after one quarter — 27-27.

San Antonio raced out to a 12-3 lead behind a rusty Thunder team, but Alex Caruso sparked a comeback. Stephon Castle leads the Spurs with 11 points, and Wembanyama has six points and five rebounds. Both Caruso and Jalen Williams have 10 for the Thunder.

Current Odds: OKC (-245), San Antonio (+185) Spread: OKC -5.5 Total: 216.5

San Antonio raced out to a 12-3 lead but Alex Caruso scored the next four points — one bucket driving right at Wembanyama — and got the Oklahoma City crowd rolling.

It’s 12-7 Spurs with a little more than six minutes left in the first quarter. The current betting odds: OKC (-180), San Antonio (+140) Spread: OKC -4.5 Total: 214.5

The fans in Oklahoma City had to stand for a bit to open the game.

San Antonio started the game on a 7-0 run thanks to Oklahoma City missing its first four shots and turning the ball over once. Frankly, the Thunder are lucky it was only a 7-0 run, but it ended with an Alex Caruso 3-pointer 3:14 into the game.

Thunder, after more than a week off, understandably are a little rusty out of the gate.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now has a pair of these. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was in the building to give SGA his second consecutive MVP award.

The Spurs went 4-1 when these teams met this season. Here is a brief reminder of what happened.

Dec. 13, Spurs win 111-109: Victor Wembanyama came off the bench due to recovery from a calf strain and still scored 22 points in 21 minutes of a hard-fought win.

Dec. 23, Spurs win 130-110: A game where San Antonio ripped apart the OKC defense behind 25 from Keldon Johnson off the bench, plus 24 from Stephon Castle.

Dec. 25, Spurs win 117-102: San Antonio held Oklahoma City to 38.9% shooting as a team and got 29 points from De’Aaron Fox (who is out for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals).

Jan. 13, Thunder win 119-98: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 34 points, five assists and rebounds each, and added four blocks. Jalen Williams had 20 in that game as well and he is playing in Game 1.

Feb. 4, Spurs win 116-106: Nothing to see here as the Thunder rested most of their key rotation players.

Williams, who suffered a strained hamstring during Game 2 of the Phoenix series, is back with the starters for the opening game of the Western Conference Finals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein complete the quintet.

J-Dub’s return means that Ajay Mitchell will come off the bench. The second-year guard, who filled in admirably, will take on his usual reserve role as long as Williams is healthy.

De’Aaron Fox’s absence due to a right ankle injury has forced a change to the Spurs’ starting lineup, with Dylan Harper replacing him. He joins Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Victor Wembanyama.

This will be Harper’s first postseason start. In four starts during the regular season, the rookie averaged 15.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 three-pointers, shooting 52.3 percent from the field.

If you’re going to introduce a western, bring in the guy from Deadwood. Check out this series introduction from Timothy Olyphant.

This is not a good start for the Spurs.

Starting point guard De’Aaron Fox is out for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals with ankle soreness, the team announced. He had been listed as questionable by the Spurs (as has reserve center Luke Kornet), but less than an hour before game time, the Spurs made it official that he will miss Game 1.

These playoffs, Fox has averaged 18.8 points per game, shot 34.6% from 3-point range, added 5.8 rebounds per night and played quality defense.

Look for that to mean more Dylan Harper for the Spurs.

Let’s hope this series doesn’t become a story about injuries.

We’re off to a good start on that front: Jalen Williams was not listed on the Thunder’s injury report and is available to play in Game 1 and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said he would not be on a minutes limit.

“I haven’t had to rush back from my hamstring stuff at all,” Williams said on his YouTube channel. “I’m actually taking extra days now then what was even originally planned because we were up 3-0 [against the Lakers], so there was no point in going into this series and possibly hurting myself before we have to play the Timberwolves or the Spurs. I’m about to go into another series healthy.”

Williams battled injuries all season. He missed time at the start of the season recovering from off-season wrist surgery, then suffered a hamstring strain prior to the playoffs, resulting in him playing in a career-low 33 games. He’s played in two games this postseason and averaged 20.5 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. He likely comes off the bench behind Ajay Mitchell, at least to start the series.

Having Williams back gives Oklahoma City another high-level defender with good positional size (6'5" as a wing), something needed against the young and athletic Spurs.

The Thunder are favored by -6.5 points in the opener of this series, with the under/over set at 221.5, according to our partners at DraftKings (who provided all the odds seen here).

Oklahoma City is a -260 favorite to win the series, while San Antonio is +210 to pull off the upset and win the series.

The Thunder are -165 to win the NBA title and repeat as champions, with the Spurs the second-best at +310 (followed by the Knicks at +550 and the Cavaliers at +2000).

The 64-win, No. 1-seeded Thunder have looked dominant this postseason, going 8-0 (sweeping the Suns and Lakers) and winning by an average of 16.6 points. They won the last six of those games without Jalen Williams, who was out with a strained Hamstring for the final two games in the first round and all four games against Los Angeles. Williams is back and active for Game 1.

San Antonio, which won 62 games and was the No. 2 seed, beat Portland in five games in the first round, with Victor Wembanyama suffering a concussion during the series. The Spurs then beat a physical Timberwolves team in six games, losing Game 4 in part because Wembanyama was ejected for an elbow to Naz Reid’s neck. San Antonio’s average margin of victory this playoffs is 14.4 points.