The Oklahoma City Thunder held San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama to a series-low 20 points, securing a 127-114 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
The win gives the Thunder a 3-2 series lead. The Spurs must win Game 6 at home on Thursday to stay alive.
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Wembanyama shot just 4-for-15 from the field and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
He reached his point total by making all 12 of his free throws.
San Antonio trailed by 18 points early in the third quarter.
Wembanyama gave an urgent speech to his teammates during a timeout, and the Spurs cut the deficit to eight points later in the period.
Oklahoma City then held San Antonio to just two points in the first 4:02 of the fourth quarter, stifling the comeback.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama needs to take more shots and score more points.
"He's got to take more than 15 shots, even with the free throws," Johnson said. "He's going to have to score more than 20 points, for sure.
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OKC did a good job. We've got to do a better job."
Spurs guard Stephon Castle noted that Oklahoma City consistently sent multiple defenders at Wembanyama.
"I think they sent so many bodies towards him, it's hard at times," Castle said. "He's our best player.
We need him to be aggressive."
The Thunder used a rotating defensive strategy, deploying Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, and Alex Caruso to guard the 7-foot-4 rookie.
Thunder guard Jared McCain said stopping Wembanyama was the focus. "It's a team defence," McCain said.
"We talked about it. We made adjustments to it.
>>> Thunder Beat Spurs 127-114, Take 3-2 Series Lead
We know that when he gets going, their whole team gets going."
