Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, who were often picked as the underdogs by the media for their lack of playoff experience, are now headed to their first trip to the Western Conference Finals since 2017.
They defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 4-2 in six games of the second round and are now set to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference finals.
Following the 139-109 Game 6 win, Wembanyama spoke to the crew of Prime’s Nightcap show, where he began previewing the upcoming series against the defending champions.
“Right now, we’re focusing on our body recovering and putting the Wolves series to bed. And tomorrow or in a couple of days, we’re going to start worrying about the Thunder. And we know it’s going to be a whole different series and totally other challenges.”
“This is a team that knows how to play basketball. They know their stuff, and we’re gonna see. We’re gonna re-watch all their games and do the scouting and try to execute over there in Game 1,” said Wembanyama on the Spurs’ key approach going into the conference finals.
Wembanyama then revealed his takeaways from proving the critics wrong about their playoff experience being a hurdle in their way.
“Heart matters more than anything for sure. More than physical ability, more than size, more than experience. And I feel like, as for our ‘lack of experience,’ if we don’t know that it’s impossible, we will do it. As simple as that,” he added.
Subsequently, the 22-year-old French star spoke at the postgame press conference about the team’s confidence going up against a team like the Thunder, whom they beat four out of five times they faced off in the regular season.
“Of course, we’re confident. But we need to keep the right confidence level,” said Wembanyama. “Right now, I’m not even thinking about it. I’m just thinking about recovering. I’m thinking about getting this press conference over with. And and we’re going to see we’re going to see about it in the next couple of days.”
“But it’s really it’s going to be the same as usual. Prepare, take care of your body, scout, watch the film, practice.”
In his final remarks before the end of the press conference, Wembanyama also spoke about his personal excitement level for playing probably the most meaningful games in his career so far.
“It’s great. My mind is excited. My body is tired after this game. But yeah, I said it on the broadcast earlier, like just the words ‘conference finals’ are crazy. Like it’s like something I heard, you know, my whole life, and now being in it is just special. Hopefully, many more conference finals to come in the next few years.”
Wembanyama ended Game 6 against the Timberwolves with 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, and three blocks while shooting 6-11 from the field (54.5 FG%). Despite expecting ‘battle scars’ from Wolves, the physicality of the Timberwolves series seemingly got to Wembanyama. Even though he did not let it come out on the court after Game 4, he clearly needs some time to recover before being ready to face the Thunder.
We could hear more from Wembanyama soon on the Spurs’ approach towards specific player matchups once they have taken the time to recover, study film, and complete the player scouting.
Game 1 is scheduled for Monday, May 18, at Oklahoma’s Paycom Center. It will definitely be interesting to see if Wembanyama and the Spurs’ upsurging momentum can dethrone the defending champions, the Thunder, and prevent them from consecutive trips to the NBA Finals to potentially win it all.
