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The 7-foot-1 Luke Kornet bent down to the 5-foot-1 sister, and she placed her hand on his head. They each closed their eyes. She prayed for the holy spirit to be with him. The moment went viral. The Spurs won. Kornet, who finished with six points, seven rebounds and two blocks off the bench, said afterward that the sisters needed to be in Oklahoma City for Game 6. "We've got to get 'em on the plane," he said.
Bobby Marks: "Extension candidate to watch, of course, is Cason Wallace. Oklahoma City has been aggressive with extension talks on all-NBA defender. I am not going to put comps out and put numbers out because that just pisses people off, but I would expect them to be aggressive when it comes to Wallace extension."
Minutes after the Spurs' Game 7 victory in Oklahoma City, ESPN's Tim Bontemps spoke with a veteran NBA scout on the keys to the Finals: "I think I still give the Spurs the advantage, but there's a nagging thing from the end of this game: With all the emotion, it immediately hit me that they may have a hangover coming out of this series. The Knicks have the problem of being off for a long time, so you can say that's its own issue, but it just seems San Antonio put so much into this series ... have they already slayed their dragon? Is there any chance the Knicks take advantage early in the series? "You have two perimeter-oriented bigs. I think that helps Towns more. Towns is not a guy who is going to worry about getting his shot blocked when he's taking 3s. I don't hate that matchup. The Knicks are normally trying to figure out who to match Towns up on. ... And you saw how Shai was impacted when he would get to the rim and look to pass, where he's trying to score against 28 other teams. The way the Knicks play, not sure Victor's presence is going to have as much of an impact against them as it did Oklahoma City. "The Knicks have more of a chance than I thought they did a few weeks ago, but I'm still picking San Antonio in this series."
There is a strong anticipation among team and league sources that Hartenstein will be back in Oklahoma City next season, whether the Thunder choose to pick up his team option or the sides agree to an extension. With Wembanyama and the Spurs looming as a long-term rival, it would be a significant step in the wrong direction for the Thunder to thin out their big man depth, especially after Hartenstein had some success defending Wembanyama during the West finals.
Kenrich Williams, another quality role player who has been in and out of Oklahoma City's deep rotation, has a team option for $7.2 next season. Rival executives anticipate that the Thunder will decline that option, although Williams could return at a reduced salary.
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Justin Martinez: Alex Caruso on his time with OKC so far: "Obviously I signed a long-term contract, so I'm looking forward to being here a few more years. The relationship has been great to me and the Thunder organization. I'm thankful to Sam (Presti) for everything, giving me an extension and trust me enough to be there for this handful of years. We'll see what the future holds next time. I've enjoyed my first two years here. It's been great.“
Kevin O'Connor: Nate Ament worked out this week for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have the 12th and 17th picks and have been rumored to have interest in moving into the top 10.
?NBA Stat?: The Thunder arrive back in Oklahoma City, following their Game 6 Loss, and are greeted by the fans at the airport, despite the late hour (at 2:30 AM). (via @mrbuckbucknba.bsky.social ) #NBA
Victor Wembanyama also needs to be a dominant defensive force, considering Oklahoma City connected on 49% of its shots with him on the court in Game 5, which ranks as the best field goal percentage a team has achieved so far this postseason against the 22-year old, according to ESPN Research. Widely proclaimed the best player currently in the NBA, Wembanyama needs to show it for San Antonio to stave off elimination. And though he has shocked observers with a seemingly otherworldly skill set, Wembanyama ultimately needs to figure out how to showcase those qualities on a more consistent basis for the upstart Spurs to knock off the defending champs, led by a two-time MVP. -- Michael C. Wright
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Tom Orsborn: #Spurs have a clean injury report ahead of Game 5 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. Fox and Harper have done a good job fighting through their ailments, or as Mitch Johnson put it recently: "They're competing their ass off and they're not 100%."
Overall, Oklahoma City and San Antonio are the only other playoff teams with a double-digit positive net rating, and that’s even after they’ve spent the last four games smashing each other’s heads in. The Thunder had a plus-16.9 net rating against the Lakers and plus-18.1 against the Suns; the Spurs were plus-12.9 against Portland and plus-15.9 against Minnesota, even with Victor Wembanyama missing time in both series. Because of that, it’s fair to say that the Knicks should be an underdog in the NBA Finals against either team. The Knicks wouldn’t have home-court advantage and are guaranteed to be facing one of the two best regular-season teams, not to mention one of the two best players. This is far, far better opposition than New York has seen so far in the playoffs.
Chet Holmgren addressed Oklahoma City’s struggles after the San Antonio Spurs delivered a 103-82 win in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday night at Frost Bank Center, tying the series at 2-2. “They just played like their season was on the line and we didn’t,” Holmgren said, pointing directly to the Spurs’ level of urgency in a game where Victor Wembanyama finished with 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. Holmgren said Oklahoma City failed to meet the required standard from the opening tip, noting the gap in competitiveness that shaped the outcome. “The biggest thing is we can’t rely on it being our best day to win basketball games,” Holmgren said. “We got to figure out how to do whatever the game calls for for us to win games. We didn’t do it tonight.”
Keerthika Uthayakumar: OKC is shooting 49.4% on wide open threes in 3 games against the Spurs this series. They've been wide open for 77 of their 119 attempts from three, per NBA tracking.
