OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — In the early moments of Wednesday night’s Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, Victor Wembanyama appeared to commit a foul on Jalen Williams during a shooting attempt.
But appearances can be deceiving.
While Wembanyama did make contact with Williams, and the play initially appeared to warrant a whistle, a review revealed that Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein had actually pushed Wembanyama into his own teammate, causing the contact.
This incident exemplified Oklahoma City’s aggressive physical approach against Wembanyama throughout Game 2. The Thunder employed constant grabbing, pushing and nudging against the 7-foot-4 French sensation, who nonetheless managed to record 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots.
However, Oklahoma City prevailed 122-113, evening the series at one game apiece.
“It’s all in the scouting,” Wembanyama said. “I have to trust the scouting. We have to trust it and do our work early. It’s straight effort. … Doesn’t mean it’s easy. We have to work through it.”
Both teams anticipated this physical strategy. Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault had informed Hartenstein on Tuesday that his role would expand in Game 2.
“I’m just kind of one of those players that brings physicality to the game,” said Hartenstein, who played only 12 minutes in Game 1 before taking on a crucial role in Game 2 — contributing 10 points and 13 rebounds. “I think that’s just kind of what we needed.”
Completely neutralizing Wembanyama remains an impossible task given his exceptional talent. Oklahoma City’s strategy in Game 2 — and moving forward — focuses on making his job as challenging as possible, aiming to avoid explosive performances like his 41-point, 24-rebound masterpiece in San Antonio’s Game 1 victory.
“Every good player, they have to feel the defense,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s tough. He’s very different to scout. You’ve got to try to mix things up, you’ve got try different things. And that’s just what we did. Coach tried something in the first game, didn’t like it, tried something else. That’s what it’s about.”
Wembanyama’s conference finals debut has been statistically impressive. Through two games, he has accumulated 62 points and 41 rebounds; the last player to achieve 60 points and 40 rebounds in the opening two games of the conference finals was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1974 — who posted 69 points and 40 rebounds for Milwaukee against Chicago.
Despite these accolades, the MVP finalist and Defensive Player of the Year showed little interest in discussing statistics. His focus was on securing a 2-0 series advantage, and accepting a 1-1 split heading home for Game 3 provided no consolation. San Antonio mounted a comeback from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to create drama, but couldn’t complete the rally.
When asked about the most challenging aspect of Game 2, Wembanyama responded candidly.
“I would say it’s spending so much energy on catching back up … then letting it go away,” Wembanyama said.
For him, that represented the most painful blow of the evening.
