OKLAHOMA CITY — Three hours before an elated Julian Champagnie tucked the Western Conference finals trophy safely under his arm Saturday night, the beautiful reward of a 110-103 Game 7 win, a wave of frustration was settling in.
His routine pregame 3-point gauntlet was going off the rails. No matter how the shot left his fingertips or how he positioned himself at various spots around the perimeter, the consistency just wasn’t there.
Front rim. Back rim. Off to the side. “Oh my God!” Champagnie yelled in disgust.
At one point, Champagnie looked off in the direction of the rim as if he were inspecting it, because something surely was off with it. He even stared at his hands, moving his individual fingers, searching for an answer.
For much of the Western Conference finals, Champagnie had been searching for a similar rhythm. His floor spacing, which had meant so much to San Antonio for months, had suddenly vanished without reason.
Before his last few moments of the warmup, assistant coach Matt Nielsen spoke up.
“Layup!” Nielsen exclaimed as Champagnie’s attempt soared through the air, a reminder of how talented the 24-year-old is. The shooter he knew could knock down 25-footers in his sleep. Like layups.
So on Saturday night, behind enemy lines with the NBA Finals within grasp, Champagnie dared to dream. He launched without hesitation or trepidation, defended like his life depended on it and stuck his nose in rebounding business it should not have been, saving his best performance for last when the Spurs needed his contributions the most: 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from 3, six rebounds, an assist, a steal and a game-best +16.
“Julian is amazing,” said teammate and West finals MVP Victor Wembanyama, who is very much looking like the best player on Earth. “He deserves everything that he gets. And he’s the type of guy that makes you wanna die for him on the court because he gives so much effort. And he’s got such an amazing story — he got cut in the NBA a few years back. He’s had tough moments, but he keeps pushing and now he’s taken his team to the NBA Finals.”
The story of Game 7, the story of such a majestic, captivating series, could have simply been San Antonio’s proficiency from deep, with Oklahoma City becoming a prisoner to its pressure-packed defensive shell, allowing the Spurs to knock down 17 3s for the first time in a fortnight. Or it could have also been how the Spurs controlled the offensive glass, dominated in transition and allowed the lowest success rate of shots at the rim in the playoffs
Because Game 7 was all of those things. And it was also none of those things. A matchup rooted in tactics, experience and mettle ultimately boiled down to heart. Luke Kornet racing down the floor to meet an eager Isaiah Hartenstein at the rim, sending his shot flying and the bench into an absolute frenzy. Keldon Johnson, who dealt with inconsistency all series, hitting two huge momentum-shifting triples and attacking the rim with aplomb. Dylan Harper, refusing to succumb to rookie culture, playing beyond his years. Wembanyama and Stephon Castle balancing aggression and smarts, even against their head coach’s best interests because of foul trouble. And the fight, passion and tears of joy after the final buzzer, an entire Spurs family hugging, jumping and thrusting the trophy in equal parts disbelief and pandemonium, all on the floor of a prideful Thunder team with dynasty on their minds.
“I’m most excited about feeling what I felt when that buzzer went off again and again,” said an extremely emotional Wembanyama, who scored 22 points, hit three 3s and grabbed seven rebounds. “All these hours we put in, it’s for these types of emotions. I want to win so bad. It’s like my life depends on it.”
As the Thunder walk away, they’ll have the next few months to evaluate what went wrong in a season filled with so much right. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dragged his team for as far and long as he possibly could, offering flamethrower after flamethrower to simply keep Oklahoma City within striking distance — ending his season with an impressive 35 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. But the Thunder will need to examine the embarrassing erasure of Chet Holmgren, who is about to begin a five-year, $239 million deal. They’ll also need to revisit their depth and contingency plans, which became exposed toward the end of a series lacking a healthy Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell — with Lu Dort struggling mightily and veteran Alex Caruso missing 11 of 14 shots in a must-win environment.
For now, though, the Spurs will celebrate. The extent of the festivities is unknown at this juncture, given how well oiled the New York Knicks are and how easily they’ve dismantled their Eastern opposition, but San Antonio has leaned on their preparation all year. This season has shown the significance of growth, understanding and connectivity for a group forged by failing, developing and ascending in its first playoff season since 2019. And regardless of how the Spurs’ story ends — whether it culminates in hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy or finding themselves in a similar predicament as the Thunder, wondering how an opportunity slipped through their grasp — the journey is worth holding on to. Even for one night.
“Man, you love it,” Spurs general manager Brian Wright told Yahoo Sports. “Gotta love it.”
“People don’t talk about the habits, the character, the togetherness, the competitive response,” Johnson added. “This team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time, over 100 games for the most part. I’ll take those things with the experiences that we’ve gone through when you want to look back at how we started the year. We’ve played in three playoff series without Victor and [De’Aaron] Fox for multiple games. I don’t know who else has as much experience as we do this year.”
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