Wemby’s historic Game 1

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: Wemby’s Historic Game 1

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

Hosts/Contributors: Dave DuFour, Zena Keita, Jared Weiss, Andrew Schlecht

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers an in-depth, fast-paced recap of Game 1 of the 2026 Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder—a double-overtime thriller. The hosts break down Victor Wembanyama’s legendary performance, San Antonio’s road win, OKC’s struggles, and the tactical chess match that’s shaping the series. With broadcasters on site in Oklahoma City and the Spurs’ beat covered thoroughly, listeners are treated to both granular analysis and the palpable energy of an all-time classic playoff game.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Game 1 Recap: Spurs Steal Home Court (02:24–03:15, 32:01–40:00)

• Final Score: Spurs 122, Thunder 115 (Double OT)
• Victor Wembanyama leads the Spurs with a historic 41-point, 24-rebound stat line.
• The win snatches home court from OKC in dramatic, exhausting fashion.

2. Wembanyama’s All-Time Performance (03:15–07:39, 32:21–34:40)

• Stat Line: 41 pts, 24 rebs, 9 offensive rebs, 3 blks, 3 ast.
• Multiple moments defined the game:
  • 28-foot three-pointer to tie late in OT
  • Dominant dunks and never-before-seen moves
• Notable Quote (Zena):

  “We're gonna wax poetic about Victor Wembanyama because it's not even waxing poetic. It's just telling the truth. He was alien yesterday. He was unstoppable, unguardable at times.” (03:36)

• Wemby aggressively “hunted” buckets and responded to intense physicality by asserting himself even more (07:38–08:24):

  “He actually went out to get some buckets in this game… He put his shoulder down and gets a dunk like he's Shaq.” (07:41)

3. The Signature Shot: “The Most Shocking Thing He’s Ever Done” (04:45–04:57, 32:21–34:29)

• With the Spurs down three in OT, Wemby pulls up from 28 feet to tie the game—a moment quickly called “Hall of Fame reel” material.
• Notable Quote (Jared Weiss):

  “When Wemby hit that shot… that was the most like soul crushing shot because the Thunder had this three-point lead that felt like, oh my gosh, the Thunder are somehow pulling this game off. …But it might as well have been like a 30-point shot.” (32:36)

• Notable Quote (Andrew Schlecht):

  “It's the most shocking thing he's ever done in his career. ...He decided to just take a crapshoot to put the whole game online. If he misses that shot, it's over.” (33:18)

4. Spurs’ Supporting Cast & Defensive Prowess (06:07–10:26, 44:46–46:49)

• The Spurs’ rangy young defenders—Carter Bryant, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell, Stefan Castle—swarmed OKC with relentless length.
• Rookie Dylan Harper grabs 7 steals, 24 pts, 11 reb; dubbed a "rookie kleptomaniac" on the broadcast (09:08).
• Notable Quote (Dave):

  “The length on those young players… they were everywhere so long and then they got into that zone. Something else.” (06:07)

• Spurs' perimeter defense and depth, especially in zones and traps, disrupt OKC’s rhythm (10:26–12:07).

5. Thunder Struggles: Lack of Offensive Answers & Rotational Issues (10:32–14:55, 38:17–46:49)

• Key Problems:

  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander limited to 24 pts on 7–23 FG—"one of the worst games” for him, with just 2 pts in both OTs (06:14).
  • Chet Holmgren mostly neutralized; only 8 pts, felt "sullen," and didn’t assert himself as rim protector or primary defender on Wemby (13:04–15:22).
  • Thunder offense overly reliant on Caruso (8–14 3PT, 31 pts).
  • Hartenstein unplayable; OKC suffered on the boards, out-rebounded 61–40 (12:41).

• Rotational Concerns:

  • Mark Daigneault went 12 deep, still searching for functional groupings (22:08).
  • AJ Mitchell, Wallace, and McCain not aggressive enough offensively.

6. Tactical Chess Match & Adjustments (18:36–22:26, 41:20–43:26)

• OKC Small Lineups:

  • Thunder’s “double big” looks were ineffective vs. Spurs’ length; adjustments needed.
  • Hosts discuss starting more ball handlers and increasing movement/off-ball screening.

• Defending Wemby:

  • Small, physical guards like Caruso and Jalen Williams had moments but couldn’t sustain stops individually (45:17).
  • Thunder forced to consider creative defenses, possibly even foul hunting to get Wemby off court (48:31).

• Spurs’ Defensive Scheme:

  • Modified box-and-one, always keeping Wemby “low man.”
  • Emphasis on contesting shots, pushing Chet out of rhythm, and shutting down OKC’s drive-and-kick game (19:49–21:51).

7. Advanced Analysis: “Mind Games” and Physicality (35:52–41:00, 46:24–47:22)

• Spurs turned Thunder’s shot selection against them, forcing them into “bad shots” despite decent shot quality on paper.
• Mental battle: OKC hesitant to attack Wemby in the paint; “never gonna take a shot against Wemby” mentality.
• Notable Quote (Jared Weiss):

  “The defense was mind games. ...He's the defensive player of the year. He's maybe the best defensive player we've ever seen.” (40:15)

8. What's Next: Series Implications & Adjustment Watch (47:22–53:08)

• Thunder’s best hope is to attack Wemby, try to get him in foul trouble:

  “The reason why the Thunder can win the championship and win the series… is to get him off the floor. ...If Wemby's playing 40 minutes… He's too good.” (48:31–48:39; 49:03)

• Wembanyama’s statistical feat: now among the very few with a 40/20 game in Conference Finals/FInals history (49:31).
• Both teams could tweak rotations for Game 2—with the Spurs possibly getting De’Aaron Fox back and Thunder seeking more shooting/movement.

9. Memorable & Quotable Moments

• (Zena) “Cancel the finals… because this was an insane matchup.” (02:58)
• (Dave) “He does something in every game that I've just never seen him do before.” (06:07)
• (Andrew) “It's the most shocking thing he's ever done in his career… He didn't even have his legs under him, which is probably why he hit the shot. Because he's too strong to shoot from 38 feet.” (33:18)
• (Jared) “He wants Chet to, like, cry. He's going to keep going until Chet cries.” (48:39)

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Key Timestamps

• Opening Recap & Set Up — 02:24–03:15
• Wemby's Signature Three-Pointer — 04:45–04:57, 32:21–34:29
• Wembanyama Stat Line & Impact — 03:26–07:39
• Spurs Defense and Depth — 06:07–10:26
• Thunder’s Struggles & Caruso’s Performance — 12:41–14:55, 44:46
• Rotational & Tactical Adjustments, Game 2 Preview — 18:36–22:26, 41:20–43:26
• Advanced Analysis: Mind Games, Mental Edge — 35:52–41:00
• Closing: Series Stakes, Historical Perspective — 47:22–53:08

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Tone & Style

• Energetic, awestruck, and deeply analytical, capturing the gravity of what may already be an all-time classic in NBA playoff history.
• Frequent use of vivid metaphors and sports lingo: “alien,” “hunting,” “soul crushing,” “dog,” “kleptomaniac.”
• Mix of big-picture, existential takes and micro-level, tactical details keep the commentary both immediate and sharp.

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Takeaways for Non-Listeners

• Wembanyama’s Game 1 was a “where-were-you” moment: He didn’t just dominate—he defied basketball norms and physics, combining size and skill with an alpha mentality rarely witnessed at his position and age.
• This series is set up as a heavyweight battle, with both squads possessing unique, disruptive defenses, and each coach likely to devise counterpunches for Game 2.
• OKC needs to reset offensively and can’t rely on Caruso bailing them out or Shea G-A struggling. Getting Chet back in the mix and attacking Wemby is now a must.
• Spurs’ young depth and defense might be their “secret sauce,” but their lack of late-game perimeter creators could be a stumbling block—help may be coming if Fox returns.

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This episode is a must-follow for NBA diehards and anyone trying to understand the evolution of superstar impact and playoff tactics at the highest level.

Transcript

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[Dave Duforo]

Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for May 19, 2026. I'm Dave Duforo here with Zena Keda. Coming up, you know what happened last night. Double overtime, Game one, Western Conference Finals. We got everything. And I'm in okc. Good morning everybody. What is up, Xena? Wow, what a game we just watched that I was spoiling for you along the way.

[Zena Keda]

I know.

[Dave Duforo]

While we were working on the show.

[Zena Keda]

I cannot believe you got to see that in person. That Was an insane game. I'm telling you. Adam, Adam Silver, if you're listening, cancel the finals. They're happening right now. Just cancel them. Because this was an insane matchup. Oh, my God. Let's get into it.

[Dave Duforo]

Double overtime. Game 1, 22, 1:15. The spurs win Game 1. They steal home court advantage from the Thunder Victor.

[Zena Keda]

Women.

[Dave Duforo]

Yama. 41 points, 24 rebounds, 9 offensive rebounds. Xena, I think the most shocking stat is that he only had three blocks.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, casually, casually added three blocks, three assists. On top of all of the work he was doing over the course of 4, 48 minutes. And you know, I, I, we're gonna wax poetic about Victor Weminyama because it's not even waxing poetic. It's just telling the truth. He was alien yesterday. He was unstoppable, unguardable at times. I mean, there were obviously there were moments where Chet Holmgren was able to get a block on him and Alex Caruso was able to, you know, get him to fumble the ball a few times. Jayla Williams. Sure, sure. But the way that Victor Wembanyama got you buckets, got the spurs buckets when they needed them. Timely buckets and buckets that were unstoppable buckets that he's taking. He's crossing half court and pulling up from 28ft out. His teammates barely got down the floor, barely were in position to rebound. He said, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care. We don't need an offensive game set up. I got this shot, y'. All. I literally am gonna put this up as if we are in warmup lines and I'm gonna put this in. Then he another bucket and this is an overtime, y'. All. Right. This is an overtime we're talking about.

[Dave Duforo]

It was 105, 108 when he, they were down three.

[Zena Keda]

Yes.

[Dave Duforo]

He pulled that from 28ft. And Xena that to tie the game. That shot is going to be on his hall of Fame reel.

[Zena Keda]

Correct that.

[Dave Duforo]

Correct.

[Zena Keda]

It was a step in Curry. Yes. Look at us in sync. Exactly. That is exactly what it was. Crossing half court and just pulling up with like nothing in mind.

[Dave Duforo]

Right?

[Zena Keda]

Like nothing in mind. Just ice in his veins being able to hit that shot. So gets the game to tie it up. But then you're talking about what he was doing in overtime. Takes a dribble outside the three point line and takes steps to get to in the paint past the fenders and finishes with a dunk. These things that he is doing defy physics. Right. It's. You don't know how you're supposed to guard him because he takes up so much space. Then he's doing things on the deep defense event that absolutely OKC wasn't ready for. One OKC wasn't ready for the length of the perimeter defense. The youth be damned. I'm taking my. Everything I said back when we were with Law, Dave, because youth be damned. The length on those young players. Carter Bryant, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell, Stefan Castle, like all. Or like they were everywhere so long and then they got into that zone.

[Dave Duforo]

Something else.

[Zena Keda]

No, Casey forgot those.

[Dave Duforo]

Those guys have NBA bodies. They are built big and they.

[Zena Keda]

They were.

[Dave Duforo]

They were able to give Shay Gil Gilgis Alexander everything he could handle. This is one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. He winds up 7 for 23, 8 of 9 from the free throw line, 24 points, 12 assists. It. This was not the Shay Gilgeous Alexander that we know and love. He had two points in both of the overtimes combined. And Victor women. Yama has 14 points. I mean, look, this was. Law even brought this up. The. The Akeem Olajuwon, David Robinson statement game where you come out and you watch that guy just won mvp and I think I'm the best player in the world. And I honestly think that we're almost at the point, especially after a game like this, Xena, where we need to all stop pretending like Victor Wimanyama is not the best player in the world. He is. I think that when you. When you control half of the game in the way that he does, period, he has an outsized effect on the game more than anyone else. I mean, you know, he's plus 16 in a game that goes double overtime. We're kind of running out of words to describe him. And he's doing stuff. He does something in every game that I've just never seen him do before. In this game. He had a couple of moments and Xena, I want to know if you picked up on this because like we've watched him, we've seen pretty much every game in his career, but he actually went out to get some buckets in this game. He had that one.

[Zena Keda]

He hunted them.

[Dave Duforo]

Yes.

[Zena Keda]

He hunted them. Yes. It's a great point.

[Dave Duforo]

He had that great lefty hook finish that I thought normally that's. He kicks that out to the corner. He had. He put his shoulder down and gets a dunk like he's Shaq. He comes down the other end and he forces it a few times and he Gets, you know, I mean, he shoots well, including, you know, in overtime. He just was able to generate buckets around the basket. And I will say that the Thunder did a really good job of keeping him high, making it so that his catch points, those high post ups, were out of the paint. They were bothering him all night. They were on him physically. But the way that he responded by just saying, you know what? I got a little bit more dog in me than maybe, you know, and just to be able to do that at his size. We've never seen anything like this before.

[Zena Keda]

I forget the superhero that as they take blows, they absorb more power.

[Dave Duforo]

I think that's the absorbing man.

[Zena Keda]

Is it? Is that okay?

[Dave Duforo]

That's one of his. Whatever it is.

[Zena Keda]

Well, either way, that's what it felt like Wemby was doing. The more he was getting tussled around on the free throw line, the more that Caruso and Lou Dort and Jalen Williams were trying to dig in on him. It felt like he wanted the ball more and was more determined with his footwork to get around them. Once he did it, I mean, it didn't matter the second that he pivoted and turned. He didn't care who was in front of him. He didn't care that Chat Holmgren was in help side. He didn't care who Jalen Williams was in help side or J Dub wasn't help side. He wanted to get to the basket. And you're absolutely right. It did feel as if the spurs were not only Wemby, but through the leadership of Wemby, the Spurs were hunting. Yeah, right. The spurs felt like they were. They felt like they were in control of this game. And we. We could definitely talk about Wemby, but I also really want to put a lot of big spotlight on depth. Dylan Harper, right, Dylan Harper, who ends up with 24 points, 8 of 20 from the floor. So not great. He didn't shoot great from three. 1 of 7. However, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and here's the 17 steals. Now, you were at the game, Dave, and one of the things that they did on the broadcast, they called it a rookie klepto maniac. And I thought that was hilarious. It was good. It was good because he was just everywhere. He was so long. And all of the lanes, all of the seams that OKC has been able to explain, exposed or other teams in their defenses absolutely were not there. And the worst part was for okc, a lot of their offense is that drive and kick, drive and kick. Shea, break someone down Jayla Williams breaks someone down and they kick. And every single time it felt like there was a Spurs player playing free safety available to pick off that pass. Whether they got it and turned it over or just disrupted the flow of what OKC wanted to do that was so pivotal to just making OKC look.

[Dave Duforo]

Well, they had to do it too, Xena, because it's not like the spurs were throwing the ball all over the gym.

[Zena Keda]

23 turnovers.

[Dave Duforo]

Stefan Castle had had 11 turnovers. Yeah, and some of that was he was doing some foul baiting and, and you know, the handle was a little loose and they were ripping him. But credit to the Thunder, every single time those guys got in the paint, it felt like they were putting a hand or two on the ball. You know, we kind of are blowing past the Thunder part of this because we're so excited about the Spurs. But you know, the Thunder defense I thought did a really good job of. Like I said, they fought Wimby for the position. They did a good job on, on the spurs shooters. And we talked about this. You're going to have to dare them to shoot sometimes and dare them to make. There's guys that like you don't want to shoot, but like Dylan Harper is a guy that I think you can let shoot a little bit, one of seven, like you said. And, but on the other end, look, the spurs came out and, and I gotta say, if you're the Oklahoma City Thunder, I don't think you were, you were considering throwing out your rotation two minutes into the conference finals. So they had to go, they have to go to the drawing board after this game because Isaiah Hardenstein, this is not his series. Chad Holmgren, rough, rough game, had eight points in the game, did have the big block, game saving block I guess you could say on Wemby to, to force another overtime, but just was non existent for the most part. On defense, Jalen Williams had to come in early in the game because they just didn't have anyone who was being physical enough. And as good as I think Caruso and Jalen Williams did when they were guarding Wemby, the small guard or the the guard thing or get the guy who's 6766 who can body him up, that's not working anymore.

[Zena Keda]

You gotta go.

[Dave Duforo]

We gotta have a new angle here on Wemby because if that's what you're coming back with in game two, I just don't believe it's going to work now. Will Shea, Gillis, Alexander have another game like this? I doubt it. I Don't. I don't think we're going to see it again.

[Zena Keda]

Probably not.

[Dave Duforo]

There were points in the game where you could see like, he was turning it up a little bit. He had that big dunk in overtime. He had that, you know, the. Obviously the. The. And one basket where he took women to the hole. But I think the Thunder, they're gonna. They're gonna have to go and look in the mirror and they're gonna have to figure out who they are, because without Hartenstein, they can't rebound.

[Zena Keda]

Laying it out right here. The rebounding discrepancy was in this game was 61, Spurs, 40, 40 OKC. That is unexpected.

[Dave Duforo]

They look like the thunder from two seasons ago before they got Hartenstein.

[Zena Keda]

Before they got Hartenstein. That was supposed to be the solve. Exactly right. Exactly right. There's so many things I want to lay out. First and foremost, Alex caruso. Bravo.

[Dave Duforo]

Yeah.

[Zena Keda]

11 of 19 from the floor. 8 of 14 from 3. He is the reason OKC was in this game. He is like. I want to emphasize that he is the reason that OKC was in this game. 31 points from him. Only two other players scored in double digits. That was Jalen Williams and she Ghost Alexander. And that's what's so concerning for me, is because on a good night, Shay Gildas Alexander can get 24 points, and you're like, all right, that's good. But the fact that he played 51 minutes, 24 points, and no one else showed up. The main issue is let shay have a 24 point bad night. The issue was, where the hell was Chet Holmgren? And I'm looking at Chet, and all I can think of is what Draymond Green said about Rudy Gobert in 2024. Rudy Gobert, this is back when Katt was still on the team before he went to New York. And Rudy Gobert is on the floor defensive player of the year, not guarding Nikola Jokic. And everyone's looking at Kat like, you've got to stop him. You've got to figure out and get out, get in front of him and whatever. And it was Draymond Green on his podcast who said, I don't understand how the defensive player of the year, who is a center, is on the floor with the best player on in the series who is a center. And they are not on. Like, he is not guarding that person. How can you be the defensive player of the year and you're not guarding the best player on the floor who is in your position? And that is the question I have for Chet Holmgren, because the amount of times I kept seeing Jayla Williams getting beat, trying his hardest, right, Bodying him up, bodying up Wemby, but getting beat. And it's Chet Holmgren coming after the fact in help side, being behind the play, not being the person that is. I mean, he got that one block, as we mentioned.

[Dave Duforo]

Even that one, though, Zena, to your point, it wasn't helping. Kayson Wallace and Alex Caruso really did the work on that.

[Zena Keda]

And look before that.

[Dave Duforo]

Now, to his credit, though, and to defend him, Chet's job is to come be the cleanup guy. And I do think that there is some. There's some merit to this where you have Chet and he's. He's taking the worst shooter. He's going to come help and swing over and help at the rim, but it just didn't happen. It just didn't happen. And. And again, the lack of rebounding chat

[Zena Keda]

should be asking for that assignment today. Looking at him, the confidence that we typically see at Chad Holmgren was not there.

[Dave Duforo]

Well, Wemby might have stolen his soul a little bit in this game.

[Zena Keda]

It looked like it. He looked sullen, and I don't know. I haven't heard any of the post game press conferences. But he needs to get that Chet Holmgren swagger back because he did not have it tonight or last night. And I really, really believe that if Chet takes the assignment from jump, he'll meet the moment. We saw that, right? We saw that throughout the season, the regular season. He needs to meet the moment from jump, not be the cleanup guy while Wemby is killing his teammates. Because this is a team that. Okay, see, and this is actually really great because San Antonio is like this, too. But both of these teams are filled with guys that ride for each other. They ride for each other. They're such, like, compadres. And if you see your homie getting beat up by the best player in the world and you're not stopping it, like, you will feel away about yourself. You're going to feel down. And so I feel like next game Chad has to come out with, uh, that's me. Make me get off him. Like, make me. Make it be so bad that I have to get off of him, but let me own that responsibility and that assignment from jump, and we'll see what happens. But that's the matchup I think was missing. And particularly if that's handled, then maybe Isaiah Hartenstein can come in and do some other things.

[Dave Duforo]

Well, listen, Cornette, those minutes for, for the spurs were not great. He played. No, he hasn't turned nine minutes. He was minus nine. And I think those are good Hardenstein minutes. Like, you can take advantage of those. Wembley is not going to be able to give you in game two what he gave you tonight. I mean, if it goes another overtime, I mean, this is the. Another 48 minutes career high in minutes for him. And we've, we've had concerns about him because he does kind of run out of gas once he gets over 35 minutes. So the Spurs, I think game two, they've got to think about that. But the spurs also maybe get to add de' Aaron Fox back, which they were down a guy in this game. And for them to pull this out, I mean, just a massive win, insane. But let's talk Thunder because they lost and they're the ones that are going to have to go to the drawing board and come up with an adjustment. AJ it's more than just play better. There's got, They've got to. The way in which they, they operate on offense, I think needs to change just a little bit. Alex caruso cannot attempt 14 threes for you if you're the Thunder again, that is, that is a win for the defense. And I understand like he, yeah, he had 31, hit a great game. And on both ends, by the way, his defense was excellent. And this guy, I mean, he looks like a guy who's well rested for the playoffs, which I think is. Is smart by the Thunder and the way they managed him all year. But that's a failure for you. The first half, it was a lot of Dort and it was a lot of Caruso. And in the spurs, we're happy with that. But Shea, you know, there was one possession, Shay drives, he kicks the ball out, and then he relocates and get a. Gets a relocation. Corner three. And I maybe can count on my, like on one hand the number of times I've seen him do that. I think that that's something that you need to see. I want to see OKC come out. And we did see them in the second half. They started smaller, right?

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

So they go with that smaller lineup. It's. It's the four guys around. Around Chet. I wonder if they start there. But you need, I think, against this spurs team with the way that they defend and because of Wimby, you need to have three ball handlers on the court at all times if you can afford to do it. Because when you do that initial drive and then you kick, you need more guys who can come back and attack, because hopefully you've gotten Wemby out of the lane. And we saw, again, we saw that a little bit. And I do think, you know, Shay getting off the ball, give him some easier looks. You know, so much stuff off the dribble, just like running into the teeth of the defense. You know, Wemby's there as the backup and the spurs have thrown out. And we've seen it a bunch this season, but we saw it, I thought heavily in the best moments for the spurs defense. This modified box. And one, I say modified because one of the guys in there is Wemby, but it's fully focused on Shea. And so now you're going to. I think that's where you got to get the ball out of his hands, get him a screen off the ball and get him moving a little bit, you know, maybe, maybe more. Jared McCain just, again, a movement shooter out there, somebody to make the defense move. I don't know. How do you feel about it, Xena?

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, I've definitely noticed that boxing one, and I always struggle sometimes of noticing, like, is this like an extended 2, 3. But it's not because Wemby's not really in the middle of the floor. It's something there, though. But we know that the spurs have done this all season where they prioritize making sure that Wemby stays the low man, regardless of what's happening. That when he says low man, they've got to find a way to get past that first layer, because that's what you really saw. Them struggling, trying to figure out how do we get the ball to the middle of the floor without turning it over. And once that person does get the ball in the middle of the floor and they turn around, what are the two guys on the wings doing? Right? And I think that's what you're referring to with some of that off ball movement. But they're not moving. The people that are now in there, like the zone that they're now occupying as offensive players, they're not moving those defenders. They're not doing anything that's making them feel like, oh, I've. I've got to be preoccupied with whoever's in this zone so they can dig in and they can collapse. And you saw a lot of that and like, just clogging up right around the paint. And there was no mid range game for OKC practically tonight. Um, there was. And their three point shot was off. Like, they kept trying to find that mid range. They kept trying to find those floaters in the paint. And they. It was restricted area or threes. Like, they. They could not find anything else. And so, yeah, OKC absolutely has to scheme better for that ext zone box looking situation that the spurs have set up. And they did this in a particular play. I think it was at the end of the fourth quarter where they occupied Wemby with Chet in the back corner. And the more you can find a way to get Wemby to be forced to guard someone, because a lot of the times it was like Alex Caruso that was out in the corner and Wemby was like, I'm not going out there if I don't need to. They need to find a way to occupy Wimby and pull him out some way. And the number one thing that. The only thing that really is going to do that is check shooting threes and make.

[Dave Duforo]

Well, to be fair, though, like, if Alex Caruso is going to hit 8 of 14, by all means shoot 14.

[Jared Weiss]

Right?

[Dave Duforo]

That's great. And so, like, there is a reason why the Thunder trust him in these sort of moments. I mean, if he's your worst shooter, there are worse guys taking that shot right?

[Zena Keda]

Now, I also say this.

[Dave Duforo]

You don't want that.

[Zena Keda]

Fair. I'll say this, too. Dagno you. You have to shorten that rotation up. He went 12 deep, I believe. Let me see, 12 or. Yeah, 12 deep. And he didn't really get much outside of some of that.

[Dave Duforo]

Zena. He's looking for stuff, right? Like, who's.

[Zena Keda]

Who's gonna.

[Dave Duforo]

Who's gonna have the right intensity, who's making shots tonight, who's rebounding. And the rebounding legitimately is going to be, I think, a huge issue in this series for them because Hartenstein can't be on the court with Wemby. I mean, Wemby had 22 rebounds in the game, nine offensive rebounds.

[Zena Keda]

I'm just trying to figure out how does someone. So you've got Chet holmgren, who played 41 minutes, put up seven shots. Kayson Wallace played 28 minutes, put up six shots, right? Like, A.J. mitchell plays 34 minutes, puts up five shots. If you're going to have this much time occupied by folks and they're not producing, like, what is the point? I focus in on a certain group and say, y' all have to put some shots up. You cannot allow Shea Gildrus Alexander to put 23 shots. Jello Williams in his first game back, 25 shots, and Alex Caruso gets 19. Everyone else is under seven or under. Shorten it up and get the offense flowing. It can't just be those three people. It can't be Alex Caruso and it can't be just like, okay, no Alex Russo. And as you mentioned, now it's just pass off his 19 shots to Lou Dort. It's gotta be a better distribution.

[Dave Duforo]

I wonder if we don't see A.J. mitchell in the starting lineup if they make a lineup change. I'm not sure if they, if they will or not. I think, I think we saw. Well, no, no, I wonder if A.J. mitchell doesn't start. If they go small, you get another ball handler out of there. You know, I mean, it's probably going to be Casen Wallace. I think if they do make a change, you get him out there. That's, that's the way they started the second half of the game. But A.J. mitchell, you know, he didn't take a lot of shots, but again, it's that ball handling, it's the ability to put pressure on the defense. Right? And, and actually he, I mean, he was pretty good in the time he was out there, but obviously zero turnovers is huge. Some of that was. Luke Cornett was on the court and, you know, he was able to cook a little bit, but, you know, he winds up plus seven for the game in a game they lose by seven in double overtime. Again, Jared McCain gave him good minutes. I just think maybe some more Jared McCain, just because they're going to need that shooting. And then, you know, look, if you're the spurs, my big question mark for them coming in was will they be able to shoot enough? It didn't matter in this game. I mean, it did matter because, you know, they almost lost. It winds up not biting them. But they only shot 30% from three.

[Zena Keda]

Right.

[Dave Duforo]

And, and one of those was a ridiculous 28 footer from Wemby.

[Zena Keda]

Right.

[Dave Duforo]

So, so I, I do think that, you know, you credit the Thunder and what they were able to do defensively on, on everyone outside of Wimby and even some of the stuff they did on Wemby, I think was good again. Yeah, those, those super high catch points, I mean, I, you know, they're in my notes is this is something to watch because how long can he take this beating? Jalen Williams was giving him everything he had.

[Zena Keda]

I mean, he's getting knocked off his center the entire time. Absolutely. And you're right, I mean, 20 the Spurs. There were moments even when the game was close that you're like, ah, the youth.

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[Zena Keda]

Okay? They're still, they're still new. And 28 points off of that. My issue. You get them to the line 29 times and you give up 27 free ones. Yeah, that's gotta, that's gotta slow down.

[Dave Duforo]

Like gotta make your free throws and

[Zena Keda]

they've gotta, you know, OKC only got to the line 19 times under their season average, so they're definitely gonna have to spend, pick it up in terms of attacking the basket. But right now they've got to have the confidence that they can get there.

[Dave Duforo]

Yeah, I'm not sure if you guys could hear that, but I just. There was a round of applause from some of the people still left in the arena. So that's a good time to go take a break. We'll be back after a quick break with more from Oklahoma City.

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[Dave Duforo]

Welcome back to the NBA Daily Andrew Schlect Jared Weiss are here. Andrew Schleck, of course, the host of down to Dunk Saturday Slammin Jam. Jared Weiss, our Spurs beat writer at the Athletic this is the best NBA game I've ever seen in person. Incredible. Pretty good. Incredible game.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah, this, this was. Marcus Thompson said it best. This arena knows heartbreak and knows heartbreak from this spot right here. Because I will tell you this, the moment that I knew that the spurs were going to win that game was when Wimby hit that shot. Now the game wasn't over, right? But that was like the most like soul crushing shot because the Thunder had this three point lead that felt like oh my gosh, the Thunder are somehow pulling this game off. Felt like the Thunder were stealing a game from San Antonio and then Wemby was like, nope, he hits that shot, it ties the game. But it might as well have been like a 30 point shot, right?

[Dave Duforo]

He did four new things in the game and that was the most shocking one time and score. I mean 108, 105. There's like 28 seconds left. Jared, you've watched this team every single night. Is that like the most shocking thing that you've seen him do all season.

[Andrew Schlecht]

It's the most shocking thing he's ever done in his career. Easily for he. We watched him fall backwards into a dunk tonight. What else do we see? My mind is wiped by all these infinity.

[Dave Duforo]

He had that great lefty hook.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yes. Where we were. So we were sitting next to each other. We thought he was kicking it out to the corner. And then like, just like the angle of the ball was like, wait, it's going up. What? It's going. It's going in the hoop.

[Dave Duforo]

He's Kareem.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Holy crap.

[Jared Weiss]

I didn't. Yeah. That one didn't make sense.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yeah, it didn't make sense. But for Victor to. What was so ironic was he was so meticulous in this game. He chipped away at the game very methodically. He didn't do too many things. He did things that were crazy, but he didn't do things that were, like, local. Like, it was. It was just mind blowing, but the right thing. And he decided to just take a crapshoot to put the whole game online. If he misses that shot, it's over. They don't win. They cannot win the game if he blows that. And he decided to put it on the line. And he didn't even have his legs under him, which is probably why he hit the shot. Because he's too strong to shoot from 38ft.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Or whatever that was with his legs. And so it's funny, I remember they

[Dave Duforo]

called it 28, but like, this is. This is.

[Jared Weiss]

There's no way.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Looked like it was like 35ft. Yeah, it was. It was a bomb.

[Jared Weiss]

It just felt so abrupt, too. The crowd wasn't ready for it. I don't think any other player except for him was ready for it. Like, the way that that game was flowing, it just. It happened so fast.

[Dave Duforo]

Actually, look, I went back and watched it, and you can see him start to think about it at half court. So it wasn't like he was like, okay, I'm tired. I'm just going to pull this. It was in the moment. He figured it out. I mean, honestly, I think that this game was really incredible from a figuring it out standpoint. For a guy who seems to be unsolvable. If you think back to when, you know, when he put the ball on the deck, picks it up at the three point line and finishes with a dunk, that was him just kind of getting frustrated and saying, you know what? I'm tired of this process. And I thought there were a few moments like that. Some. Some were Bad. For instance, the, the where he's clapping on defense for Shea, Gil just Alexander instead of just staying in his defense. That was working. That was wanting in a little bit too much. But I think that to have that amount of like, we just haven't seen a guy who is this big, this mobile and this much of a dog, you know, like to break it down to just the base sports, kind of thought he was the biggest dog on the court all night long. And against a team full of dogs, I mean, you know the Thunder are tough and they just could not break them.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah, they could not find their footing offensively and it took them a while to even find what I think were good shots. I would, I would probably guess that their shot quality, if you're a big shot quality nerd, you're going to look at that in the first half and you'll be like, you know what? Great shot quality for the Thunder. Bad shots though, like the shots that the spurs wanted them to take.

[Dave Duforo]

Right.

[Jared Weiss]

Which is why I think they were behind most of the game, is that they were taking. They were only taking the shots the spurs are wanting them to take. They weren't taking the shots that they wanted to take. And so as the game went along, they started to find more and more of those shots. And really this is, this is the first quality opponent the Thunder have played. Yeah, I mean they basically played two play in teams before this round and now it's like a little bit of a wake up call. I was talking to guys in the locker room, they're like, yeah, this feels a little bit like when we played Denver last year. It was like a little bit of a wake up call for us.

[Andrew Schlecht]

I mean, this series is completely even. Like I wrote about that on the Athletic. There's no you, you could have. The best way to pick this series beforehand was to do a coin flip. It has way more objective value than 10,000 words of analysis because these teams are dead even. And we saw in this game the physicality is very different, where the wolves were just murdering the spurs. Like they just beat the living crap out of them. The Thunder are the best pressing team I've seen since like Detroit. Like Detroit in 2004. Like their ball pressure is incredible. The best ball pressure team, point blank. The spurs played the second half trying not to fall back over the half court line. And remember that play where I think it was like Case and Wallace pressed them against the half court line the whole time. Then KJ gets the ball and he was like, I'm going to Figure this out. Drives baseline and steps out of bounds. Like they formed a shell that was impenetrable in the second half. And it took Victor being like, I'm just going to go over that shell. And that was how they. And that's what they need from him. Like, they need him to have his moments. The way that Shea took over this game. Shea had the worst game of his career in the first half. Shay's MVP was thrown out the window. And then he went back into the trash and he picked it out and he dusted it off. And he looks like MVP again at the end of this game. But, like, Wemby needed to show that he can do that. And then Dylan Harper, of course, had his moment to accentuate that very well. But like this game, I think the Thunder did a great job of showing their defense is going to allow them to win the series. And it's really a question of can Victor outlast that and can he get over that?

[Dave Duforo]

What did you think that the spurs did particularly well on Shea? You know, he finishes with 24 points, but it was like 27 and a half shooting possessions, you know, with the free throws and the shot attempts. So not. He wasn't efficient. What was the secret?

[Jared Weiss]

I mean, loading up on Shay, which is what almost everybody does. That's nothing different. But when you have the back line defense of Victor Wembanyama, that's different. That's like the difference. And the problem is that they weren't finding good enough shots for guys really other than Dub. And Alex Caruso, like AJ Mitchell could not get involved. Chet could not get involved. Which is really nothing new against the Spurs. That's been a trend with the Spurs.

[Dave Duforo]

Can't even stretch his shot is so slow that he can't stretch the floor against these guys.

[Andrew Schlecht]

In the second half, the spurs did a great job of kind of reconfiguring how they helped off of him so that they would kind of X out the defender that was ready to close to him.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schlecht]

And because there were a lot of plays where like the Thunder figured out how they were having Wemby play kind of a double zone on Shea. And so they were getting wide open looks as opposed to like moderately contested looks. And the spurs did a really good job of figuring out how can we get that body back to Chet, that we can not only contest him, but we can prevent them from getting past our contest. That's a big thing. Like, Chet's got to be able to drive past closeouts and dunk off people like that's how he gets in the series. He can't get the series anymore.

[Dave Duforo]

Dunking on Wy. I mean, maybe you are, but like it's.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Oh, people. There's other people.

[Jared Weiss]

There's other people to dunk on saying

[Dave Duforo]

Wimy is going to be there.

[Vanta Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Jared Weiss]

And, and Wimy tonight, for the most part, especially in the first half, it wasn't a never mind. It's a we're never gonna.

[Dave Duforo]

Right.

[Jared Weiss]

You know, like that's what was happening. Like we are.

[Dave Duforo]

Wallace didn't look at the rim in the.

[Jared Weiss]

We are never going to take a shot against Wimy. Which I don't think is the right approach for the Thunder. Like, I think that they, the Wolf showed that.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yeah, you gotta, you gotta go at him and wear him down so that he's not destroying you in the 50th minute when he's ever played more than like 42 minutes.

[Jared Weiss]

The defense was mind games. It was mind games that were existing and they're well founded mind games. He's the defensive player of the year. He's maybe the best defensive player we've ever seen. But if you're the champs, like, you have to play better than that. You have to like force the issue in some kind of way. It was, it was the spurs controlling that whole game. It felt like when it was a six point game, it felt like a 20 point game.

[Dave Duforo]

Did half time, it felt like the spurs should have been up 20. But you know, the thing about the Thunder is I, I never counted them out because they are able to defend the spurs, have some questionable shooting. I mean they only shot 30 from three in this game.

[Zena Keda]

Right.

[Dave Duforo]

That's going to be a storyline that we have to follow along the way. But to me, the, the. One of the biggest takeaways that I had was two minutes into the game, Mark Dagnaut has to throw out the rotation. Everything's got to change. You can't play Hartenstein against Wemby. Yeah, you gotta, you need more ball handling. I wonder, you know what, we saw them come out small in the second half. Do you think that that's the big adjustment maybe for game two? Or do you think they're going to go ahead and stick with what got him here and hope that maybe it's a little bit better?

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah, we, we talked to Mark and he kind of, he, he said that the plan was to stagger them. Okay. From the outset. Like he knew he was going to stagger them. He said he didn't know how quickly he was going to go to that. But he knew that he was Caruso in for Hart early on. That was the plan. Now the question is, do you start with Case and Wallace instead of Hart? Do you start with AJ Mitchell instead of Hart? I don't know if they will or not. They have. They, like kind of having that starting lineup. They, they think that, like, the starting lineup, quote, unquote, is overrated.

[Dave Duforo]

Sure.

[Jared Weiss]

Like, they, of course they don't. They. They think that they can keep the same starters and stagger. But you looked at the way that that game started and I, I think they figured out pretty quickly you can't play double big against Wimby on either end of the court. Like, there are too many places to hide on both ends whenever you have double bigs. Like, you really can't play hard except for the cornet minutes.

[Vanta Sponsor]

Right.

[Jared Weiss]

And you have to kind of match those guys minutes as best you can.

[Dave Duforo]

Cornett was not good in the game.

[Jared Weiss]

No.

[Dave Duforo]

Hartenstein was. Was good actually, in those cornet minutes.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

So was A.J. mitchell. But I, I think you got to get more AJ Mitchell out there during the meat of the game because I think you just like the Spurs. They have so many bodies to throw at Shea and J Dub. You've got to have a third dude at all times with those guys.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah. We also saw an AJ Mitchell moment where it was like he, this is his young player moment where he has this open wing three on the break and he could have held it and like, bled some time off the clock, found a better shot. You could tell, like, the temptation was too much for him in the moment. Like he had to take that three. And you wonder if he want. I mean, you, when you miss it, you obviously kind of want that one back. If he makes it, the Thunder probably go on to win the game. But the fact that he missed it and you left too much time on the clock, you kind of killed one possession. Like, that's one where you just. You wonder if, if next time he'll. He'll hold the ball in a similar situation where you need to bleed clock.

[Andrew Schlecht]

What's funny is the spurs don't do the two for one management that most teams do. Yeah, we kept talking about that every time I'd be like, I can't believe they're not going for the two for one. They would score and then get the ball back with like three seconds left. So I guess I maybe just Victor, like, is controlling the wind patterns in a way that gets them. Gets them the two for one. Anyway. It's kind of crazy so they're really getting a 3 for 2, which is the kind of the dream, you know,

[Dave Duforo]

speaking of Wemby and control, I thought that his pace in the game on the offensive end especially, like he was dictating how things were going. I think he was very patient, especially when he was trying to work inside with the way that the Thunder dig down and they're constantly slapping at the ball. They were excellent in the lane. Every single time it felt like Castle or Champagne attacked the lane, the ball was squirting out of there. But I thought Wemby did a really good job of just staying steady, not letting all those guys bother him. And that was when he really started working toward getting a shot. It was almost more like Jokic, what we see out of him, where he's like, okay, I'm gonna give you five or six moves, not just one or two. And that, that was the biggest difference in the game. When they weren't hitting shots, Wemby was getting good, good looks around the basket.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Well, they, they did a good job. The spurs did of. There were times where Caruso was winning the post opposition battle. And it's just like we got to take a moment to shout out Caruso, like, one of the best, best games off the bench ever.

[Dave Duforo]

8 of 14.

[Andrew Schlecht]

That's got to be one of the greatest in NBA history. One points because the defense is phenomenal. Unbelievable. Like, that was one of the best offensive games I can remember seeing by a guard in a cross match situation. He's. He gives up a foot plus to Victor. Right? How tall is Crusoe? Six. Six, five.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah. And that's generous.

[Andrew Schlecht]

So he's about 13 inches short as Victor. Seven' six. So he's about 13 inches shorter than Victor. And by the way, he's not seven four. I will tell you now. He's seven foot. He's seven five and a half is what he is.

[Dave Duforo]

He's seven six.

[Andrew Schlecht]

So he's seven six. He's seven six.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schlecht]

So, like, Caruso's ability not just to win the, like, the low swing part of it, but to win the position battle. Crusoe's arms just straight out and just shoving Wemby out of position. He's so good at fighting for leverage points. And one of the issues that the spurs were having was there's this one play where I think Fissell was trying to enter to Wemby early on, and him and Caruso kept fighting for position. So Fazell threw the. The entry pass, like when Wemby was trying to do Another move to get around him. So he actually threw the pass to where Caruso was in position. And so Caruso, the chess match, just a fight for post position was like the entire game, really. And Caruso held up the entire night. But at a certain point, they started creating spacing and getting Victor kind of shooting him into the way he got these post ups that he was able to either get low, two shooters on the opposite side. Yeah, he'd either get low or he'd get underneath. And Castle did a really nice job of when Victor get underneath, he would go over the top and that. That's over. That's the best play in basketball is anytime Victor gets underneath position and your guard can get his chest facing the hoop because just throw it up and catches it.

[Dave Duforo]

He had like a water polo move.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

For a basket, again, like that. It's unsolvable. I don't really know what you do there outside of pushing him. Outside of 16ft. I mean, yeah, they did a great job. Every single time he got to 16ft, they were on him. They were pushing him. J Dub was really good. I thought being physical with them.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

That possession.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Will.

[Dave Duforo]

J Dub. No.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Well, well, Jay Will edition.

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Jay.

[Jared Weiss]

Well, that's right.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Jay Will was the only guy's karate chopping him, trying to murder him. Who's gonna kill Wemby? Someone has to kill Wemby. They're gonna stop.

[Zena Keda]

Right.

[Dave Duforo]

Jalen Williams was coming in.

[Andrew Schlecht]

That was.

[Dave Duforo]

Was his job. But, you know, it just at a certain point, like, there's just only so much that you could do. And I will say, like, the. The possession where Chet gets the. The. The block.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

When Kayson Wallace and Alex Russo came over and those two guys when they were doubling, I mean, Wemby, that was the one time where he looked flustered is when those two guys in particular were coming over. And I don't know.

[Andrew Schlecht]

I mean, what.

[Dave Duforo]

What's the secret? Like, we're looking ahead of game two. What. What's the adjustment for the Thunder there?

[Jared Weiss]

I would say one, there's no good answer for Victor. When Benyama. There's like, not a. Yeah. There's not an answer for him. The biggest answer is like, Shane needs to be better. Like, that's honestly the biggest thing is that Shay needs to be better than he was tonight. And the Thunder were right there. This is double overtime game right there. And so I do think, like, Shay needs to control the game from the offensive end earlier, and then they need to find ways to get A.J. mitchell and Chad Holmgren involved. Offensively, I think defensively they did pretty good. You look at Wimby statline, maybe it doesn't feel that way. Right. But I do think the biggest difference was like, the way the Thunder functioned as an offensive unit. Like they did not play well in this game and still had a chance because their margin for error is. Is still pretty wide because of their defense. And when they have like a D minus offensive game, they can still be in it. Now they need to have an average to above average offensive game. Is that possible against the spurs defense? I guess we'll find out.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Let's be clear. The reason why the Thunder can win the championship and win the series. They have the single greatest way to stop Wemby, which is to get him off the floor.

[Jared Weiss]

Right.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Because Shay can get him in foul trouble.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schlecht]

It's the only way. It's the only way you're gonna. They're gonna win the series, but they can. They can't do it. I don't see. I don't see the Thunder winning the series of. Wemby's playing 40 minutes. I don't. He's. He's too good. He matches up too well against them. He wants Chet to like, cry. He's going to keep going until Chet cries, and then when check cries, maybe he'll leave up.

[Dave Duforo]

The difference between him on the court and him on off the court is night and day.

[Andrew Schlecht]

I mean, it's like 20 points now. It's crazy.

[Dave Duforo]

So this was the thing that I thought Minnesota did so well in game one again. And this is what I, for me, what I'd like to see out of the Thunder in game two. I want to see an endless stream of drives attacking Wemby. Make him get 10 blocks. He only had three game. And it was a lot of times again, Casey Wallace in the paint would not look at the rim.

[Jared Weiss]

Never gonna.

[Dave Duforo]

And they. They have just got to get the shots up.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah.

[Dave Duforo]

Hope you can get some of the rebounds off of them because Wimby won't be rebounding.

[Andrew Schlecht]

He won't be in position, which they need because he had 20, 21. How many have tonight? Yeah, he had a 40, 20 game. He's the seventh guy ever to have a 40, 20 game in the conference finals or finals. He's 22.

[Dave Duforo]

22.

[Andrew Schlecht]

All the other guys on the list are like the greatest bigs ever. It's like Kareem Wilt, Elgin, Baylor, Barkley, Shaq. It's Moses, I think is the other one. Like, it's insane.

[Dave Duforo]

You get.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Get him off the glass. Let him have a triple double. Let him feel good about those blocks. And then when he gets, he goes for that block with 20 seconds left in the game. Sneak behind him. Chet gets a dunk on. On his head. Let Chad dunk on his head. Give Chet that one.

[Jared Weiss]

I hope Chet doesn't say never gonna.

[Andrew Schlecht]

You can't.

[Gradient FC Sponsor]

He's.

[Andrew Schlecht]

He's the only guy that's big enough to actually finish over Victor besides Shay and J Dub.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah, it'll be fascinating to see because I think this is going to be a chess match all the way till game seven. Chat Smash a Chat Smash. Chat Smash a Chet Smash.

[Dave Duforo]

We did get one of those. Okay, anyway. Excellent. Amazing game. The best NBA game I've ever been to in person by a lot of just. It felt like a heavyweight fight. And it helps that we've been building this up for months.

[Jared Weiss]

Yeah, right.

[Dave Duforo]

But the payoff was amazing.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Also. Adam Silver must be so happy that the NBA cup is proving to be the ultimate championship. The series is going to go seven probably and be amazing. And then the Knicks maybe will be there. I'd rather go to New York than Cleveland for the finals. So, you know, we'll see if Orlando,

[Dave Duforo]

if they were playing a nine game series. Well, you know, maybe they, maybe they beat.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Exactly. Can we give a shout out to Dear and Fox who somehow missed the game and yet proved how valuable he is by missing the game because the spurs crunch time offense was horrible. Like they were so lost. I, I can't believe they won the game because of how much they struggle to execute against the best defense in the NBA. And I think I'll still give the Thunder that no matter what Victor's doing, just because their ball pressure is incredible, their coordination is incredible. And the spurs struggled so much to run offense and until that second overtime where Victor went pretty nuts. The big takeaway from this game is that Victor's not ready to run crunch time offense and beat like an elite defense. He could do it up until the conference finals, but at this point, not quite there. And I don't know how I feel about that at this point.

[Dave Duforo]

Some of that is the NBA is biased toward, you know, like perimeter creation rather than post creation. And just being able to beat guys off the dribble is so much more valuable in crunch time. You know, you think about Jalen, Brunson, Johnson, de' Aaron, Fox, like Shay, I mean the guys who are like the clutch players, it's because of their ability to drive and kick, right. And Wemby's not a Driving kick guy. So, you know, maybe it's a. It's more of a style thing. Like, maybe they got to figure that out.

[Andrew Schlecht]

He's also not a reset guy. And the great ball handlers like Shea and J Dub, too. Yeah, they can get out of a bad situation and reset, and that's what Fox can do. Castle is an amazing player at a really good game. He's a. Once he gets downhill, he just keeps slowly getting downhill. Harper, I think, shows, I think, really impressive ability. Unless, like, two years from now, Harper is going to be unbelievable. Right? Like, he's gonna be.

[Jared Weiss]

He's already on.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yeah, he's already on his real mvp. What if Harper gets so good that Wemby can't win MVP because Harper is taking away value?

[Jared Weiss]

I. I don't think that will happen. But he's really good.

[Andrew Schlecht]

He's really. He's really good to be one of the best. He's gonna be a. Maybe a top five player in the league for sure.

[Dave Duforo]

I like it.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Oh, is that not enough top five?

[Jared Weiss]

That's.

[Andrew Schlecht]

That's a bowl.

[Zena Keda]

That's a bold.

[Andrew Schlecht]

He could be a top five.

[Dave Duforo]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schlecht]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Dave Duforo]

All right, well, that's gonna do it for the show. Thank you guys for listening. Thanks to Zena Keda, Jared Weiss, Andrew Schlecht. I'm Dave Dufour. This is Ben the NBA Daily live from Oklahoma City. Thanks for listening. Make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed it, drop a. Like, leave a rating or let us know in the comments. Thank you guys for waking up with us.

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