This will be the most-played clip when talking about Victor Wembanyama’s dominant Game 4.
Wemby drills half court buzzer beater to end half
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Victor Wembanyama does this from half court.
However, this highlight from the opening minutes of Sunday night’s contest better shows what Wembanyama and the Spurs did differently — keeping him around the rim on defense — and why not only is the Western Conference Finals now tied, but the Spurs may be in the pole position to advance to the NBA Finals.
San Antonio adjusted how it handled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which allowed Wembanyama to stay close to the rim, where he is a defensive force unlike anyone else in the NBA. What the Spurs did in their Game 4 victory is shift the burden onto Oklahoma City to adjust heading into Game 5 on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to get into details, but in general, being more disciplined and just trusting the game plan even more,” Wembanyama said of what the Spurs did differently on defense.
Wemby is selling it short, the Spurs completely altered how they were dealing with Gilgeous-Alexander, and by extension, the entire Thunder offense.
For three games, San Antonio had leaned into a variation of the Lakers’ defense on Oklahoma City from the second round. They trapped Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out high, tried to take away driving gaps (even if it meant helping off shooters one pass away) and generally wanted force the ball out of his hands, daring the other Thunder players to beat them from beyond the arc. Oklahoma City’s role players obliged and knocked down their shots. Through the first three games, OKC shot 39.5% from beyond the arc as a team. Alex Caruso was 14-of-23 from deep, Cason Wallace was 8-of-17, and big man Jaylin Williams was 7-of-12.
In a must-win Game 4, the Spurs went back to a defensive system they were more comfortable with. They left one defender on Gilgeous-Alexander — usually Stephon Castle, who was fantastic — and when the MVP drove, they waited until he was near a dangerous position to help, then swarmed him from players close by. One key result of the tweak was keeping Wembanyama closer to the rim, rather than him having long close-outs to shooters, and from the opening moment of the game, that paid off. This new system threw Oklahoma City off its axis, and it turned the ball over 20 times Sunday night (and the Spurs scored 25 points off those turnovers).
Playing into this was the Thunder’s injuries — the Thunder’s second and third best ball handlers and shot creators, Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Away Mitchell (calf), were both out. Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t getting much help. Also, in Game 4 the tables turned and the Thunder couldn’t buy a 3-pointer even when the looks were open, going 6-of-33 (18%) from deep on the night. With Wembanyama playing closer to the rim, OKC shot 18-of-41 in the paint.
The pressure now falls on the Thunder to make adjustments. One of those is relatively simple — just make more shots. The Thunder are better shooters than we saw in Game 4, they just had an off night.
“We’ve played 12 playoff games. When you play 12 playoff games, they’re not all going to be masterpieces,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “As much as you want to win, there’s nights where you just don’t have it for whatever reason.”
The other part may prove more challenging: Get Gilgeous-Alexander the ball in space so he can operate, or take advantage of his gravity without the ball to get other players going off cuts or other off-ball action — and they probably have to do that without Mitchell and Williams. It’s a lot to put on Daigneault’s plate.
But he’s got to figure out before Tuesday. The Spurs looked like sharks that smell blood in the water in Game 4, and this could be a feeding frenzy if the Thunder don’t find a solution.
