Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - REACTION: Spurs Advance to The Finals

Episode Date: May 31, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon reacting to the Spurs' Game 7 win in OKC. They discuss Victor Wembanyama's dominant performance over Chet Holmgren, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s best game of the series. Then, the crew previews an NBA Cup rematch in The Finals between the Knicks and the Spurs. Plus, some thoughts on the Thunder's offseason and potential roster changes.  0:00 Intro 1:30 Spurs Defeat Thunder 111-103 (4-3) 10:55 Chet Holmgren: 33 Min, 4 Points, 4 Rebounds 20:25 Spurs Advance To The Finals 30:25 Previewing The NBA Finals: NBA Cup Rematch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing about midnight on Saturday night, Sunday morning. The NBA finals are set. Joining us from New York City, where games three, four, and six, if necessary, will be played, is Tim Bontems. Hello, everybody. And join us from Oklahoma City, where the season is over and the champ's rain is coming to an end. He'll be headed down San Antonio way, along with the Spurs, who had an impressive, inspiring, maybe changing of the guard, victory tonight in game seven is ban McMahon howdy partners it will be my last time joining you from

this beautiful green room in the bowels of the paycom center uh you know the thunder might still have a dynasty on their hands but boy oh boy do they have a big old roadblock down i 35 and those san antonio spurs and wimby shed tears of joy on that court tonight uh celebrate celebrated on that court tonight. And, you know, this series, I'm going to say lived up to the hype. All the games weren't close, but game was one and seven were epic, and it got to seven. This series lived up to the hype, and I think we're going to see a repeat of this series, or at least a rematch of this series, several times over the next decade or so.

Basically, this is one of those moments that we have. Sometimes we see it every year. Sometimes we go a few years without seeing it. this was a moment in this game, especially in the second half, where this was the epitome of big boy basketball. If you weren't able to play at the highest level of intensity, you stuck out like a sore thumb and you couldn't be on the court. And we talk about the playoffs being reductive and your strengths are extenuated and your weaknesses are exposed. And in this situation, that was taken to the max. And we saw some guys absolutely step up to the highest level that you'll ever see.

Most of those guys were wearing silver and black in this particular case. And the Thunder were playing with less than a full deck. And despite their depth, you felt it. you felt what they didn't have and you felt what they were missing and this is going to be look I mean there is no shame whatsoever in this title defense uh in my view um the spurs are a machine and you know I'll go back to midseason when I said okay McMahon you know reported Lixis and the spurs aren't going to do anything at the deadline I was like wow okay I thought they needed one more move, but I guess this is not going to be the year. And I've said this before, this was a

transitional moment. You were like, bro, that is not what they believe, you know? And they believe, and they are in the process of proving themselves right. They got four more games to go, four more wins to go, I should say. But the spurs have arrived sooner than anticipated, and they are built to last. They're going to be around as a premier team. as a contender, as a potential dynasty for a while to come here. Bontemps in a road game seven, the first game seven for just about everybody in this Spurs organization. There's a couple of guys who've been in it. They had seven players score in double figures.

And repeatedly, especially in a what I could only, I don't want to say magical because magical implies that it was something cosmic. It was just absolute incredible fourth quarter. The Spurs shot 61%, 11 of 18 in the fourth quarter. And of the seven misses, they rebounded three of them and got seven points off of those missed shots. So their efficiency in the fourth quarter of a road game seven was at its highest possible level for a team that is so young and so inexperienced. And Victor Wembenyama took one shot in the fourth quarter. He was a three.

He wasn't that great. He was very good. He was very good. But he didn't look like ever since really game one, he had a really good game in game four. But like it's not like he's been doing. Game, no, he's been really good. Game six is pretty good too. Game six was good.

I'm sorry, saying he had one shot wasn't accurate. He had two shooting fouls. He only had one official shot. The point is this wasn't, this, like, he wasn't the best player in the game today. The best player in the game wasn't on the Spurs today. But the Spurs as a team played very well. They hit shots in the fourth quarter, especially. They, they absorbed a lot of runs from Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City, I think, shot itself in the foot on a few different. occasions. I mean, we're back in where we were two years ago, frankly, with some of the lineup decisions that were made, like sticking with Lou Dort was a mistake. Having him in the starting lineup was clearly a mistake. The Spursk off to a good start, basically every game. They were something like plus 40 in the first quarter in this series that was generally off of one bad start after another, and Lou was very bad the whole series. It's back to the Josh Giddy thing again, just a different form. And look, And it's also worth...

Lou Doord is an elite defender, Josh Giddy. Lou Dord had nowhere to guard in the series and couldn't hit a shot and should not have been on the court nearly as much as he was. It was a giant mistake. And it was obvious to see. Lou Dord's also a proven championship player. This is not Josh Giddy. It's the Josh Giddy situation in that they were wedded to starting him when they should

have gone away from him. But, and Janele Williams and AJ Mitchell being out left. an enormous burden on Cheyields-Ox-Exander, where he had to handle the ball all the time, and they had no one else to really go to to do anything. And he was phenomenal in this game, and I think, you know, showed up in a way that you would expect the two-time MVP to show up.

But at the end of the day, the others for the Spurs, dramatically outplayed the others for the Thunder, all guys who were there, you know, other than Jared McKay. They all guys. Not because the Thunder play. players like, well, one Thunder player in particular really struggle, which we'll talk about in a second, but, um, Kaysen Wallace had a brilliant game.

Wallace was great. Jalen Williams had a, you know, he had 11 and 10. He was, he was, plus 10 in his 25 minutes. He had a, I thought, a brilliant, it was fighting with the Yamma. So look, Alex Caruso, who had a phenomenal series and was probably the Thunder's MVP through six games, had a bad game, missed a bunch of shots. He would have liked to have back in the paint, et cetera. Like the spurs just outplayed these guys and won the game.

And look, over the last six years since the bubble and like post, you know, post-COVID, the road, the, in 21 game sevens, including this one, the road team is now 12 and nine. And that coincides with the dramatic rise in three-point attempts. 17 of 40. And at the end of, yeah, they were 17 for 40 from three. Like, we talked about it all year. The Spurs are a very streaky, three-point shooting team. And if their threes are going in, like they did tonight, they're extraordinarily hard to beat if you have your whole compliment of players in the Thunder didn't.

And Julian Champany is an absolute torch. When he gets hot, he gets hot and he made six threes a night. Some of those were huge threes. And the switch to putting him in the starting lineup by Mitch Johnson a couple months ago is the thing that set these guys off. Julian Champany hit six threes plus 16, played 38 minutes. He was huge. Dylan Harper with a couple of very important baskets, including a put-back in the fourth quarter. Keldon Johnson.

The air fox was massive in the game. They had two huge threes in the fourth quarter. Keldon Johnson had, I think he had three baskets in the fourth quarter, two of them three-towners. Two back-to-back threes, and then he had a fast break layout. One of them was off a offensive rebound where Chad Holmgren just, we're going to get to that in a little bit here. He just didn't get it done. You know, I mean, Victor Wambayama goes 7 to 15, has 22.7 rebounds with one block.

That is an excellent game. He won Western Conference MVP correctly. Deservedly. But seven guys in double figures. Man, yeah, Fox had a couple of key baskets. Fox was massive for them. Yeah, that's the best Fox has looked, I felt in the series. I don't know.

For sure. Fox, and, you know, especially for a guy playing on a high ankle sprain, you know, he helped him in this series. And Fox is a guy on a max contract. And when you talk about their big three, he's not one of the three. You know, and like, right now and big picture, this is a lot about the big threes, right? And for OKC, you know, and again, I'm not, like, the Thunder, I think will win another championship or championships. This is not like the death of the thunder, right? No.

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So think of Twizzlers as a little pallet cleanser for whatever's queued up, which, by the way, should be coming very soon. Like any second now. Okay, Twizzlers, time to keep the fun going. Shea tonight was brilliant. Looked like a back-to-back MVP, you know, throughout series, but like you feel great with Shays to face your franchise. J-Dubb, J-Ly Williams, unfortunately this season was a complete,

just medical misery bust for him. Just recovering from the wrist, the right hammie during the regular season twice, the left hand. Four hamstring strains. Right, the left hammie twice during the playoffs. I mean, just basically it was a zero. Let me just, just from a health standpoint, just never was on the court. And the last five games of this series, he played 10 very ineffective minutes in game six,

and that was it. And then Chet played 33 minutes tonight. and you had to look hard to find him a lot of times. Two shot attempts in 33 minutes, four points, four rebounds. Come on now. He got swallowed up. There were times where you felt like this is an all-MBA player. Mm-hmm.

And look, he's playing against potential all-time great in Wimbunyama. You are not. But here's the problem. He's going to be playing against him for a decade in theory, and he was a complete disaster. He looked like he did not long as well. They're basically putting out of that A. G. Mitchell, Jane Williams and Chet Homer. That's right. And they were, and it was a one possession game in the band of the fourth quarter, which is why the Thunder aren't going away.

But it's also why the Thunder have a gigantic problem with that. You're like the Thunder playing without, without two all NBA players. He got them all ripped away from them very early by Kelton Johnson. There was times where I thought he had like there was one time in particular on the left wing where he had a clean catch and shoot three. Well, that's the thing. So look, it's one thing if you're going to have. have trouble dealing with the seven foot five guy who's brilliant like it wasn't even wasn't even his defender by the way but go on right but a lot of times he's he's looking eye to eye to him okay it's another thing when you won't shoot and he played 13 minutes in the second half and right there

there's a warning sign they put they took him out it wasn't because he was tired they took him out for the last couple possessions when they needed a bucket they should have had him out less or they should they should have had jail liu's out there more occasionally occasionally got quasi benched. There's a couple of times where you were saying maybe he needed to get benched. And you guys know why I feel about him. Yeah. And he took no shots.

He took no shots in the second half. And listen, and then we talk about Dylan Harper, who is a one-and-done rookie. And that guy is taking him making big shots down the stretch of a Western Conference Finals, Road Game 7. Stefan Castle, like nice box score line. His impact goes so far beyond what shows up in the box score. know somebody from the league office at halftime was like everybody's playing so hard and he still stands out with how hard he plays how he just impacts things so much with his effort with his

athleticism and again like she went off today but like stepff castle did as good a job defending shea in the series as you possibly can't jaylyn brunson is an incredibly cerebral player and he's a realist and he's savvy and all that stuff, way even more than he's willing to show publicly. I would love to either have been in his group chats or have been here at his internal monologue watching because he knows that's what's next for him. He's going to get to know him, that's for sure.

Yeah, and he's going to, and he's one of the best problem solvers in the NBA, Jaylen Brunson. And that's good because there's a problem. Number five is going to be a problem for him. And a lot of the stuff, the Spurs are able to do, the Thunder is not going to work against the Knicks. Like they were just not, they could run away from a lot of guys on the court.

And just especially once AJ Mitchell and J. Williams are out, the offensive profile that the Knicks are going to present is going to be much more dynamic than the Thunder. It's going to be a fascinating series from that standpoint. It will be a really fun one to watch. And yeah, look, like the Spurs, you know, again, like injuries are, like, we've, we talk about this all the time. Like, to get through to the end, you got to get lucky.

And part of getting lucky is staying healthy. And we came out of game two or three of the series. I remember which one thinking, man, are the Spurs not going to have Dylan Harper and Deerran Fox? And within 36 hours, the Thunder didn't have Jaylon Williams and A.J. Mitchell for the rest of the series. like if you took Dylan Harper and Deeran Fox out of the series for the Spurs, this is probably over in five games. And put AJ Mitchell and Julian Williams back. Like if that was saying,

like if you just flip those circumstances around, the series is probably over in five games. Right, which is why, I mean, this is absolutely a moment for Victor. And he may play even stronger in future moments like this. But as you guys have said, like make no mistake. This is not, I mean.

The Scur is not a one-man team. They are a well. That's not what Brian was saying. The Spurs aren't a one-man team, but this is also, like, there's going to be a lot of, like, oh, the Thunder are cooked in the next couple days. I mean, to a certain extent, it's a passing of the torch because the Spurs are now going to play for the title. But the torch is going to get passed back and forth. I'm going to be flying back and forth between OKC and San Antonio, probably in the West Finals for several years to come. These two teams, I look, this is the, you know, you guys might have the, you guys might have the,

the stat in front of the first time in a long time that two 60 plus win teams, you know, met the playoffs and certainly went to game seven. And the last time the two teams with the best record in the league went to game seven of the series was the 2002 Western Conference Finals with the Kings and the Lakers. Shout out to NBC who had that graphic during. These teams are built to last. Now, the Thunder have some major. questions to answer and really it's one major question how much is clay bennett willing to cough up to keep

the roster together um and then that the answer that question leads to the answer to the to the other questions but they'll have their core three hopefully j and j dub can you know get healthy stay healthy and like yeah i mean these are not historically keyword historically chronic you know injuries that you know to affect the rest of your career it'll be that's going to i mean i'm sure the thunder have already investigated it very deeply as to why he is having his hamstring issue. And I'm sure that will continue. For sure. But there's a huge roadblock on I-35, a huge...

That's what the check thing is such a problem. Like, it's a huge problem that this guy... I mean, look, Victor, I mean, we all know the deal. Ever since Victor lost that under 19 World Cup final, he has had it out for Chet. And every time they play, he tries to decapitate Chet. Every time. Which he did on a dunk early in this game. Yes, he did.

And like, Chat was invisible the entire series, basically. Like, anytime Victor would leave the court, he would perk up a little bit and he'd make some plays. But, like, I mean, he just was not. He had one good game. One good game. That was game five. Yeah. Like, it just wasn't near.

It was not nearly good enough under normal circumstances. It was especially not good enough with those. guys out of the lineup. And look, I think it's a, if you're Sam Presti, it's a real, like, I'm not saying you punt Chath Holmgren because of this going forward, but like, I mean, Victor is a huge problem as it is. It's an especially huge problem if every time you play them, one of the, like as McBan said, one of the foundational pieces of the roster who you're building the whole thing around disappears when he plays against him.

Like that, I mean, that's a extraordinary. difficult situation on top of just the obvious of what do we do to try to slow down this guy that, you know, is going to be a transcendent player and already is one. And honestly, the Thunder are built as well as anybody to try to deal with Wimby. I mean, there were times in the series where Isaiah Hartenstein had success. That was not the case tonight in Game 7. There were times when Jay Will, Jalen Williams, had some success with him. he did guard him pretty well in game seven you know you can throw chet in there you can do the wing

stuff and and double and all that but again that's where it gets back to like they've got a really good roster around them they've got three really really dynamic playmaking guards they do have some shooting now champ penny is a really dangerous shooter devon vassel is a really dangerous shooter and then harper and castle both made massive strike rides. Yep. Shooting ball over the last. Shout out to my guy, Jimmy Barron, shooting coach for the Spurs.

Son of Bonaventure legend, Jim Barron. Oh, he's done a great job. Got to get a Bonnie's. Hey, listen. Jimmy Barron, Jimmy Barron has done a hell of a job with these guys. Sort of, you know, Bonnie background guy just got hired as the general manager of the Philly 76ers. Right. Well, hey, excuse me.

Yeah, not background. He went to Bonaventure. Well, yeah, just people remember I'm playing West Virginia. just wanted. All right. Should have went to college with me. Unfortunately, there was a scandal of my senior high school when he transferred to West Virginia and the rest is history.

It became a national star. Too bad. Mike Gansy. Too bad for me. Mike Gansy. New president of the long time. New president of Bass operations of the six years. Is that what he's name?

President. Congrats. I didn't see that was a guy. He's a long time Cavs GM. Nobody calls him Mike. Do you think if he would even reply to say Mike? He would reply to Mike, but everybody calls him Gansy. Everybody calls him Gansy.

Everybody calls him Gansy. Listen, if we're giving shoutouts to people on the Spurs coaching staff, let's give a shout out to Sean Sweeney, who Orlando, you're going to have to wait a little while longer to get them because he's, you know, he's got also a guy,

more people call him Sean, but most people call him Sweeney. I guess when you're the president of a team and you're the head coach, I guess, you know, it's a little hard to just call you by the last month. You have to say Mr. in front of it.

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Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. I call Sweeney my favorite little level. He's a feisty little leprechaun, but he's also been the mastermind of the defenses that have knocked out the thunder the last two times they've been eliminated in a playoff series. 24 were the Mavericks, now here with the spurs.

And look, Shea ended up, you know, doing what a back-to-back MVP needed to do to give his team a chance to win game seven. But this was just an extremely difficult series for Shea. Now, some of that is circumstances with the injuries to the third. Thunder. Certainly, let's credit Stefan Castle and Victor Wimonyama and other guys who took turns as primary defenders on him. But Sean Swinney did a hell of a job scheme-wise coaching up a team that. And look, the Spurs went from 25th and defense efficiency to third. Yes, Victor Wimonyama staying healthy helps. Hey, bring in the Luke Cornyette.

That was a great signing. And he only played six minutes tonight. But maybe the biggest play of the game was when he sprang. He's not a swift man, but he sprinted back, and he denied Isaiah Hardenstein in transition and basically got beat up when he got back to the bench. His team, and this was so excited. It was like a mosh. Yeah. What I got to four, and then Dylan Harper.

I think either Harper or Castle came down the other end and got in the lane and made a bucket and instead of being a four-point game, went to eight, and the, you know, the thunder never really got back into touch distance again. And, yeah, Sweeney, I've known Sean since he came in as a system video coordinator with the Nets under Avery Johnson when I started covering the league. And we would hang out at 390 Murray Hill Parkway after practice in the media room many, many years ago. And he's a great dude and has obviously become one of the elite coaches in the league. You got the maps of the finals with Jason Kidd a couple years ago. He's been with Janice, been all over the place now. And yeah, he's got a little more work to do in San Antonio, but he's going to be great. Yeah, speaking of Cornett, you know, like Bill Simmons says that show they were watchables.

They talk about Apex Mountain, like as a certain performance to the top. I think we can declare the Cornett contest there. Apex Mountain for Luke Cornett. Yeah, that was his big play is that he'll ever make in his career. And honestly, it was the biggest play of the game. It was during the little stretch when Wimby was resting during the fourth quarter. Yeah, and the Thunder had a lot of juice. They had a chance to, you know, try to.

Well, the two things with, you know, Isaiah Hardinstein doesn't get, you know, he, he fought well. He had a, you know, he had a good game, a decent game, not a great game. And in a good series, this wasn't his best game. Yeah, he was fighting out there. He doesn't, he's not a culprit or anything, but it's a, it's a six-point game. He's on a breakaway. Cornett just totally snubs him at the rim. And then the Spurs score and then a possession later, he's open on a, on a, on a,

duck in and the ball goes through his hands. Yeah. And that's... Was that Wallace who passed it to him there? I can't remember. It wasn't, I don't... It was his turnover. It wasn't the bad pass.

Yeah, no. I thought there was a little too much zip on it, but... Well, come on. It hits the guy. He hit him in his hands. He's got to catch it. He was in his little baseline floater spot. I mean, he had a dunk.

If he just caught the ball, he had it clearly... That's the thing. You're watching this fourth quarter unfold. And Kelden Johnson is ripping shots. Dylan Harper, Champ Penny. And at the other end, you know, you've got two situations where you're, you know, best case scenario, you might have two and ones. Worst case scenario, you've got at least one basket, worst case. And you end up with nothing there as just, it's just, it's how you win a game seven.

You mentioned Gant for getting the job in Philly, the man that he replaced. Was it the man he replaced? Was Daryl already there when this happened when the Sixers need to do? create a roster spot so Mac McLung could wear a Sixers uniform in the dunk contest and they wave Julian Champany. Pretty good claim by the Spurs. They also signed to an excellent contract, which has another year on it as a team option. And I think they're going to, I think they're going to let him go and then re-sign them to a better contract. Yeah, they won't let them go. I'll have a deal. I don't let them, I'm sorry. Decline is option. Decline the option. Let's be clear about that. That'll end up aggregated,

you know, Jesus. And that really that really was the moment this year when things turned around for them when they took Harrison Barnes out of the starting lineup, who. Which was tough to do. Well, it's a tough thing to do because he's a good vet and he's one of the few guys with experience on the roster. And they plug champagne in there. And that's when they took off.

And like his shooting. And you mentioned Devin Bissell, them like the combination of those guys on the wing, shooting the ball and being able to guard. just create so much space now for these guys to operate. And then you add in the improvement of Dylan Harper as a shooter. You add in the improvement of Stefan Castle as a shooter. You know, now there's just the whole dynamic of the court is totally different. And, you know, Champani was massive in game six or in game, I shouldn't know.

I think game five, he hit a ton of shots too when they were trying to come and win the game in OKC. from game five, yeah. Right. He was the only guy hitting shots for a while in that game, and then he came back tonight and, you know, made several gigantic plays to close the series out. Well, and look, the spurs are going to the finals primarily because they drafted three absolute studs with very high lottery picks

and back-to-back-to-back drafts. They will be the last team for at least a while, maybe forever, that's able to do that, depending on what happens with the lottery a few years. But guys like Champany, these developmental success stories that become essential role players are critical on any championship team. Well, I was working on a story about the Spurs, which was going to run tomorrow if they lost, but they didn't lose.

I talked to a scout, and he said, you know, I'll be the first to bitch about how lucky they've gotten in the lottery with, as you mentioned, the top five. picks he goes but i gotta tell you they have crushed the draft and he's talking about the cell who was a lottery pick who they developed and has become a you know Carter bryant's gonna be a stud oh carter brian he played a impactful minutes you know Kelvin johnson is a role player but again that's a draft and developed guy and listen he was a 29th pick in the draft and he was six a year this year well and going and getting luke cornet this summer too like you know that's

poor personnel like you know well but it's it's the whole thing though like day They've done a great job of accentuating around their guys with what they need. Like, you know, it all goes back to the same thing. Like, some of it's draft and developed. So, I mean, Julian Chimini wasn't a draft guy. They found him too. Yes, of course. I mean, the Thunder are the number one example of that in the league.

But it's not, to Tim's point, it's not just, well, they drafted these three guys. Like, yeah, those three, like getting Dylan Harper this year, as I've said before, I think that's the thing that's truly going to make this a dynasty in the long term, because he's going to be insane. He's going to be their second best player. And Stefan Castle is going to be a multi-time All-Star, too. Yes. No, for sure.

They do have, like, they've got people there who are part of the dynasty. You know, R.C. Buford is still there. Now, we need to give Brian Wright the general manager credit. I think that there's still a perception that R.C. Buford's really running basketball operations. That is not the case. He'll be the first one to tell you. you know, Brian Wright is running the basketball operations and has done a great job putting this roster together.

I, I, you guys make fun of me all you want. Sitting there in Paris in the winter of 20th discovery. And I'm sitting there with Brian Wright and Dave Tellop, who, Dave Tellop's, I don't know, I don't know what his title is. He's been around for a long time. He's the higher up in the front of all. And they're sitting there and there, and we're, we're. watching Wembenyama and we we go to the first time I ever saw him play live.

Pride was like, guys, that's my discovery. He can play. We got it. I know, you know, he existed before I got there, but you know, I didn't see you there. Okay. Yes, I was not sent there. First class, bro. You got sent there.

And I didn't see anybody. I didn't see any national writers at the first Victor Czech game either. But anyway, um, uh, when Mniamma hit a game winner, his first game. that we saw him play. And I walked out with Tellup, and Tellup was like, this guy is going to be so special. Dude. You know?

And he's pretty special. And they had to, they had to do other things to make this happen. They had to get all these other things right. And they had to do things like tear the roster down, like trade de Jante Murray, like stop competing for the final. final spot in the Western Conference

playing. You know, talk, pop into it, quite frankly, you know, which was hard, not easy. Yeah, it was hard. It was not easy. And, you know, and go through some years of just

bad basketball. Yeah. All right, two things. One, shout out to the NBA Cup, because the NBA Cup, whatever you want to call it, whatever you want to say about it, whatever negative you want to talk about it. predicted the NBA finals. That's right.

So that's number one. The Spurs beat the Thunder in the NBA Cup. And then what happened? They lost the Knicks. That's what I'm saying. Indeed. I'm saying the NBA Cup. They did not put a ribbon up in those rafters at MSG for this very reason.

They wanted to wait for the real thing. We'll see if the spur. I assume they're going to put up an Eastern Conference championship banner. I guess they will do that. They have those up there already. Yeah. Anyway, so I think we're headed for a very high interest-level series. The idea of Victor Rubba-Yama playing finals games at Madison Square Garden.

Yeah, the Knicks in the finals period was going to be high interest, but especially against Victor Wimanjama, who is as much of a phenomenon as there is in the sports landscape and as there has been the sports landscape for a while. Yeah, I mean, Jeff Passon texted me, I think during game one, the 4124 game, and RMOB Insider is a big NBA fan. And he was said, he said, yeah, he's Otani. And he is Otani, like in terms of just like the absolute game-breaking nature of his presence on the field or on the court in Victor's case.

Like, Otani's doing just completely crazy stuff that we've never seen anybody do before. and playing the game in a way we've never seen anybody do before, and Victor's doing the same thing. And it obviously would have been pretty cool to have the defending champs, you know, see if Shay and the Thunder would have been able to finally stop the what is now going to extend the record streak of consecutive seasons without a defending champion. We're not going to be up to going to a ninth straight season without a consecutive champion

in the league, which has never happened before. But Victor Wenamah at Madison Square Garden, playing against the Knicks for either his first NBA title or snap in the half-century drought for the Knicks to win a title, doesn't get a lot better than that. It's going to be pretty fun. At this point in the proceedings, because we have total new blood here, I don't, it should be, the casuals shouldn't hate either side, right? like you may

you may you know that's what happens when teams come back over and over like there's like a vein of it's already happening with the thunder for various reasons but the casuals should shouldn't it shouldn't be I mean obviously if you're a Nick fan you're not going to you know hate the home the spurs and vice versa

but the cat am I naive to think that this could be a series actually that could be celebrated or am I a fool in 2026? Yeah I don't think anything is celebrated, but it should be. Because it's going to be awesome. It should be. And look,

the Knicks are playing, you know, you guys have talked about just like statistically. They are playing like historically dominant basketball right now. And then we've never seen anything like Victor Wimonyama. So this should be a ton of fun. Wimby will

become polarizing pretty soon. I'll tell you that. I will predict that. Because he's a, because he's got the area. streak in him. Is that why? I could see that. There's been a couple of off-putting things with him during this playoff run because he's going to be so damn good for so damn long. Oh, I agree. You're absolutely I'm just saying it hasn't happened yet. Yeah, you're either going to love them or hate him. Right. I mean, in Oklahoma City, you hate him. That's not going to change. But everywhere. I mean,

that's what happens with anybody of that level of talent. That's just where it's and he does not mind being the villain either, by the way. He's just fine with that. Listen, I was over at my son's friend's house yesterday. They're big, big, big spurs fans. and they have two dogs, Wembe and Yama. Yeah, I mean, look, he's, as we have talked about so many times, he's everything you want the guy who's going to be the face of the league to be. He is an unbelievable player. He does it in a way that nobody else can or has done it.

He is not afraid to speak his mind publicly and say stuff that's interesting. When he does post-game media. Well, yes, I mean. Which he did tonight and was somewhat. emotional. Oh, he was. And I like this quote in particular. I want to feel those emotions. I felt when the buzzer went off again and again and again and even more. You work all these hours we put in. It's for those emotions. I want to win so bad. It's like my life depends on it. Well, and that's the other thing. The guy desperately wants to be great. And he had like all the talent and all

the desire and competitiveness. There are very few people you can look at it anything and say they could be the greatest to ever do it. And Victor Wemaniama has the ability to end all the arguments. Like he really, he really could. It's within the realm of possibility. That's for sure. And he and he wants to end all the arguments. And that's why it's cool. And that's why you're right. The day is going to come pretty soon when he's going to have plenty of people not being a fan because there's going to be a whole line of people trying to take them down. And maybe it'll be in a couple of weeks. Maybe the next. Knicks will win and maybe it'll be next year or the year after or whenever.

I mean, it is worth saying because I wrote a thing like you, Brian. I had something that was ready to go with either of these teams won for our finals preview package. The two things that are comparable to this for me are when LeBron had the 48 special in 07 and got to the finals getting by Detroit. And in 95, when Penny and Shaq got to the finals of Orlando, Everett, never won anything before that as a franchise. Certainly those guys hadn't.

So the Spurs would love that comparison to end there for one very obvious reason. Right. Both those teams got swept in the finals. So I don't anticipate the Spurs getting swept. I wouldn't think so. I wouldn't think so. Of course, you know what? I think the last two of punons of the Knicks were getting swept.

So maybe I better step back. Well, I'm just, I mean. It was called the Sixers getting, oh, wait, he said. Well, I did not. He called the sweep. I did not call that. But yeah, like it, you know, this, I mean, it's just a, it should, it should be an awesome finals on top of what was.

Hopefully. I really, well, I mean, it should be. Hopefully it is. But it's got the, it certainly got the potential to be, just like the series did. On it, I can promise you that. The right eyeballs on it. And this series, this series wasn't perfect. A lot of the games in the middle were pretty clunky and not super competitive.

but it provided all the drama that we expected it to. And, you know, again, I... It was a great first chapter in this rivalry. Yes. There will be, I predict there will be assuming health, knock on wood.

There will be a lot of things, probably a lot of books and a lot of stories, a lot of things done on the Thunder Spurs, this version of the Thunder Spurs rivalry, not even including the last one. And I suspect, that you, like you said, McMahon, I suspect next year in late May, you'll be back doing the I-35 again to see which these teams gets back to the finals next time.

All right. Well, there's a lot more to talk about with the Thunder's off-season and whatnot, but we'll save that for later. Right now they're going to lick their wounds. And yet again, we have, what, seventh straight year of no back-to-back champ. I really thought that was going to end this year. I'm not going to lie. Well, I thought that the Thunder would find a way to win one of these. last two games. And I know there was a couple of lead changes and they stuck their nose ahead, but with the state that they were in, the proper team won this game. It's worth remembering that Jaylon Williams' possession in first overtime, the game won. Like, you talk about it all

time, Brian, when you kick away a game in a series like this, it's very hard to get it back. And if that, if he just holds the ball and they have a shot clock violation, I think there's an extremely high probability that the Thunder win that game. But the way that possession went. I mean, Victor's shot is what? One in what? I mean, he's shot an open 28 footer.

It's a great shot. I was long and 20 foot. No, no, no. Okay. 30 footer. Fine. My point is, though, if they had just... It's what, though?

It's a very hard shot. It's a very hard shot. Yeah, just a great shot. He misses that shot the game's over. Just a seven and a half foot guy pulling up and transition from 30-30. I don't care how tall he was. It's an all-time great. He was or how tall he was.

It was. It was an all-time. time great moment by Victor for sure again but the Thunder had the ball up three with 30 seconds to go at home they got a win lost the game they got to win like you give away that game against a team like this and a guy like that you you say it all the time it's very hard to get that back and ultimately that was i mean that very well that was the difference in the series right there because because because they were sort of horse trading this game was this game was close But the Spurs, you know, I have this saying, you know, I'm known for sayings.

I have this saying that the Thunder are never desperate. It's sort of my ode to the way they operate, plus all the things they've got going for them. You know, they're typically very, very even keeled. The Spurs never look desperate in this game. It helps going up double figures in the first quarter. Well, and that's where the Dord thing was just a killer. I mean, I was sure they weren't going to start Dort today. especially because Daganal has no problem changing his lineups.

That's the one thing they've never done is sit Dort and Yeah, and ignore it. Dort is along with Shea, the two guys who were here from the tear down all the way on up. And look, they've got decisions to make this summer. Dort's team option is certainly one of those. And, you know, She gave me the quote where he said he'll have a... Well, they're picking up that team option. The question is about whether they're.

trading him on it. Well, Shea gave me the quote where he said, I don't know, because listen, they, he's not going away for nothing. They're not saying goodbye. Money's going to be a concern. They're going to have to turn the money somehow. But anyway, he has value. Shea gave me the quote where he says, I'll have zero input.

I'm going to let Sam Presti, best dream in the world, do his job. It was a great quote. I don't believe it. I certainly believe this. that Shay will lobby for his guy who's been here with him the whole time who plays on Team Canada with him to continue to be right here in Oakes. They're going to have very interesting summer. It's going to be, and now they're, unfortunately for them,

they're going into the summer. Yeah. Tough one for the Thunder to go down in this one. But I think the better team won. Listen, it was a part of being four, five, during the regular season. Yeah. In 4-7 here.

Like the Spurs. One, two games in OKC. Yeah, the Spurs prove themselves to be the better team. No doubt. All right. On to the NBA finals where we'll be providing comprehensive coverage. Our schedule will be totally different into the finals as it is every year. We'll be having podcasts.

The three of us will be having podcasts that are posts on game days. And then we'll have post-game games. actions or whatever a lot of podcasts you come read up for the postgame pods now that's true that's true we'll be glad to have you um all right thank you so much to tucker and mark uh stay in plate on a saturday to put this together thank you to bond thameson mcmann thank you for watching listening the hoop collective we'll talk to you from the finals adios amigos hey y'all's kelly clarkson with wayfar ever order furniture online and wonder what if like what if it doesn't hold up that sofa was four days old you should have ordered from wayfair with wave

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