OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder last participated in a Game 7, it was the decisive contest that determined last season’s NBA championship.
So it might come as a surprise that the NBA’s two-time Most Valuable Player described Saturday night’s upcoming Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs for the Western Conference championship with these words: “Biggest game of my career.”
“It’s the next game,” he explained further. “And if I lose, my season’s over.”
The stakes are clear. Game 7. Thunder versus Spurs. The victorious team advances to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals beginning Wednesday night, while the losing squad heads home with championship dreams unfulfilled. Oklahoma City posted a perfect 2-0 record in Game 7 situations during last season’s championship run, whereas Spurs standout Victor Wembanyama will experience his first Game 7 appearance.
“I know there’ll be a lot of added attention, a lot of eyes watching,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’ll be a hostile environment, but we’ve been saying this for a long time: We’ve had a lot of firsts. This one will be a little bit more important or higher-stakes than all the others. That’s the goal as you keep playing and the season gets longer.”
This marks just the second occasion in NBA history where two franchises that each captured 62 or more regular season victories clash in a Game 7. The previous instance occurred in 1981, when Boston defeated Philadelphia 91-90 for the Eastern Conference championship.
While one could argue that Wembanyama faces the most significant contest of his professional life, the French superstar might disagree with that assessment.
The 7-foot-4 star, who recorded 28 points in 28 minutes during San Antonio’s dominant Game 6 victory that prevented elimination and forced Game 7, approaches every contest with Game 7 intensity. This mindset has guided his play throughout his basketball journey and likely contributed to reaching this pivotal moment.
“For me, winning in the NBA today isn’t any more important than winning a regional championship back when I was playing in the U-13 division,” Wembanyama said in his native French after the Game 6 win on Thursday night. “The competitive drive feels exactly the same.”
Game 1 featured a double-overtime thriller where neither squad held more than a 10-point advantage before San Antonio ultimately triumphed. In Game 2, Oklahoma City’s largest margin reached 13 points before the Thunder secured a nine-point victory.
The scoring margins have expanded throughout the series. Both clubs held leads of at least 15 points during Game 3 (a 15-point Thunder victory), the Spurs commanded a 25-point advantage before claiming Game 4 by 21, the Thunder built a 20-point cushion before winning Game 5 by 13, and the Spurs established a 28-point lead before capturing Game 6 by 27.
While individual games may not have all reached classic status, the overall series appears destined for that distinction. Following all the momentum swings for both organizations, everything comes down to a single contest — the 12th meeting between these teams this season, with San Antonio holding a 7-4 advantage in the previous 11 encounters.
“The one thing that we’ve learned more than anything is every game has a new life,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Every game is earned if you want to win it. Game 7 will be no different. This is obviously a quality opponent. We have to play a lot better than we did (in Game 6) and we understand that from a number of experiences. … We’ll get some rest and recovery, learn from the tape, take the lessons from (Game 6) that are relevant for Game 7 and be ready to go out there and throw our best punch.”
Historical data demonstrates that Oklahoma City understands how to deliver that decisive blow.
Since the 2025 playoffs began, the Thunder have compiled a perfect 9-0 record in games immediately following playoff defeats — capturing those victories by an average margin of 15.4 points.
“We’re just a motivated group and we accept the challenge ahead,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Every game is going to present a different challenge and obviously when you lose, it hurts a little more and there’s a little extra motivation and we tend to fight a little bit harder.”
With Game 7 on the horizon, both sides will bring maximum intensity to the court.
Gilgeous-Alexander enters his fourth Game 7 appearance, while Wembanyama makes his debut on this stage. Most players in San Antonio’s rotation will experience this pressure for just the first or second time. However, everyone understands what’s at stake.
“I think there’s been a lot of legendary Game 7s and I feel like we’re a group that wants to be a part of that,” said Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, whose father — five-time champion Ron Harper — played in a pair of Game 7s. “We want to be a part of that kind of history of Game 7. We’re going to go out there swinging. No matter what, we just going to leave it all on the table.”
