The Spurs defeat the West-leading Thunder to advance to the 2025 NBA Cup Finals versus the Knicks. Here’s what the players had to say.
SAN ANTONIO — With the return of Victor Wembanyama from injury, the San Antonio Spurs beat the West-leading Thunder in Las Vegas 111-109 and punched their ticket to the NBA Cup Finals 2025 to take on the Knicks. Devin Vassell led the team with 23 points and five rebounds.
Off the bench, Wembanyama had 22 points and nine assists in 21 minutes, and Dylan Harper finished with eight points. Keldon Johnson scored three, and Julian Champagnie had three and eight rebounds. Harrison Barnes added six points and four rebounds. Stephon Castle has 22 points and nine rebounds.
The Spurs are 18-7 and will next face the Knicks on Tuesday night in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup Finals.
Here’s a sample of what the Spurs and Thunder said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“It’s just opportunities for us to grow. That’s our first game as a full team and so we don’t know, what we don’t know and we got to get some on the job training. We’ve been doing that sporadically with different groups and different lineups and roster availability. It’s good to be able to have the full group out there, and I’m sure time will hopefully help that in terms of continuity and execution and learning how to play with one another and complement each other.”
“People were saying that they (Thunder) were unbeatable. Like I said earlier, we come into every game with that same mindset. So I think it just shows what kind of team we got.”
“I feel like we’ve been good in close games, crunch time games, and having Vic (Wembanyama) back was definitely a plus. I think it was a big part of why we won that game, especially how he played in the second half.”
Wembanyama:
“My thoughts are just that we’re already a solid team, more than 20 games ago. It’s just experience. We’re just figuring it out.”
“It’s just incredible because I’ve seen these guys for the last 12 games just get better, do some beautiful things. I just wanted to be a part of it, and I’m glad that we can still do it when I’m here. I have no doubt, of course, but I’m just glad to be a part of something that’s going to be so beautiful.”
“We always go into every game no matter who we’re playing against, best in the league, worst team in the league, whatever it may be. And we worry about ourselves first because we know that if we go out there and we execute to the point that we know we execute, that we give ourselves a chance to win regardless of who we’re playing against. And I think we showed it tonight.”
“This team hit us in the mouth first. We were able to respond, and they responded, and we were able to close the game out. So I think that was what we called a mature win, but it’s much better to win games like this and learn in the process.”
“Everybody stepped up. So we have a really, really talented roster and a deep roster, and we play for each other, and we don’t care who gets the success as long as we’re winning. That’s all that matters.”
“This victory. We did it together as a team. It wasn’t just one person. We all played together as a team… We settled in, and we started getting some stops, and we hung our hat on the defensive end, and I think we showed that we can guard.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams: