OKLAHOMA CITY — The last time Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder played a Game 7 it was the ultimate game of ultimate games, one that decided last season's NBA championship.
And that's why, as the NBA's two-time Most Valuable Player spoke about the Game 7 that looms against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) to decide the Western Conference title, it might have seemed mildly surprising that he said these five words: “Biggest game of my career.”
“It's the next game,” he quickly added. “And if I lose, my season's over.”
Simple as that. Game 7. Spurs vs. Thunder. The winner goes to the NBA Finals to play the New York Knicks starting on Wednesday night, the loser goes home to lament what might have been. The Thunder went 2-0 in Game 7s last season on their way to the NBA title, while Spurs star Victor Wembanyama will be making his maiden appearance on the Game 7 stage.
“I know there’ll be a lot of added attention, a lot of eyes watching,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’ll be a hostile environment, but we’ve been saying this for a long time: We’ve had a lot of firsts. This one will be a little bit more important or higher-stakes than all the others. That’s the goal as you keep playing and the season gets longer.”
This will be only the second time in NBA history that two teams that won 62 or more games each during the regular season meet in a Game 7. The other was in 1981, when Boston beat Philadelphia 91-90 to win the Eastern Conference title.
And it could be easily argued that Wembanyama is about to play the biggest game of his career. Then again, he might take exception to that.
In the mind of the 7-foot-4 French star, who had 28 points in 28 minutes to lead San Antonio's romp in Game 6 that staved off elimination and got the Spurs into Game 7, every game is Game 7. It's the attitude that he's taken to the court for as long as he can remember. It's the approach that shaped him and probably helped him get to this moment. AP
