5:25 pm: Fox is officially listed as questionable, The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez tweets.
12:13 am: The Spurs were playing without All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox in Monday’s thrilling Game 1 victory at Oklahoma City, but the team is optimistic he’ll be available for Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link).
San Antonio pulled off a double-overtime upset over the defending champion Thunder on Monday. Dylan Harper, last year’s second overall pick, started in place of Fox and had a stellar game, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals in 47 minutes.
According to the NBA (Twitter link), Harper became just the second rookie to record at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a playoff game since 1973/74, when steals became an official statistic. He joined three-time MVP and five-time champion Magic Johnson, who accomplished the feat in 1980.
As impressive as Harper was, his performance was overshadowed by a spectacular showing from Victor Wembanyama, who had 41 points, 24 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in 49 minutes. The 22-year-old center joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in league history to have 40-plus points and 20-plus rebounds in their conference finals debuts (Twitter link via the NBA).
Wembanyama, who was a game-high plus-16 in the seven-point win, admitted afterward that he was motivated by the pregame ceremony awarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his second straight MVP trophy.
“I want to get that trophy,” said Wembanyama, who finished third in MVP voting (Twitter link via Dan Woike of The Athletic).
The French star said he was understandably tired after setting a new career high in minutes, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. However, a few minutes before that he said the Spurs would have time to recuperate in the offseason if they reach their ultimate goal.
“We’ll rest in July,” Wembanyama said, per Orsborn (Twitter link).
They honestly don’t need him. And I mean no disrespect by that. But..if you look at Castle, Harper and even Champagnie..those guys have stepped up a lot so far..
Castle had 11 turnovers. They need Fox. They were struggle to get late game points from anyone but Vic.
LolSGA MVP. Well done dumb sports writers.
Castle is a rookie, so he’s gonna make mistakes. Fox is the vet, which adds a calm presence to the mix. I still think they are fine in this series without him, but he does help long term for sure
Castle was a rookie last year. Harper is the rookie this year.
Time flies, doesn’t it? ⌛️
Most of those TOs were ref enhanced by no-calls on hacks and calls on flops.
No question that having Fox would have helped the Spurs win in regulation.
That Chet flop was so obvious.
Castle had 11 turnovers lmao he was being hunted like a rabbit by lions
21 Turn Overs —
Fox would have closed it out in regulation.
This Spurs teams has many weapons… Adding Fox back to the mix will keep OKC guessing…
Tight game 1… A scrappy game… A fun game to watch as a fan of basketball…
Should be an entertaining series…
Yeahh I can see it going 7 games. Hopefully ppl will start taking the Spurs more seriously now😁
They won 62 games in the regular season and finished winning like 31 of 35. Who’s sleeping on them? lol
Thunder fans, mostly
Everyone not picking them to win the title this year?
NYK2026
4-0 SAS😆😆
Nahh okc ain’t going down without a fight. It’ll go 7😁
One of the best playoff performances by a single player I’ve ever seen.
Looks like the “Spurs are too inexperienced” narrative is done.
As far as games that don’t contain my favorite teams go, this was one of the best games I have ever seen in my life.
Cosign.
It was an NBA playoffs classic, 100%
Top 10 best playoff games I have ever seen. Spurs had an answer for EVERYTHING against OKC and did not flinch. Wemby is 1/1. It’s time we start placing him in the rare Magic/Kareem/Duncan era and bursting onto the scene as one of the best young big men in the history of the league.
Magic won his first title at the age of 20 years old.
Kareem won his first title at the age of 23 years old.
Duncan won his first title at the age of 23 years old.
Those are the only ones I can think off the top my head at this moment.
Okc’s best sixth man
If Fox comes back and Spurs stay healthy, this isn’t going more than 5 games. Wemby just proved who will always win in the end. Height does not get tired.
The most impressive part about Dylan Harper’s game 1, just a single turnover.
The guy is so steady, even-keeled and he just turned 20 a few months ago.
They still badly need Fox though.
He played well both ways. But he didn’t play PG. and he did show his age. Got lucky
Yup, he didn’t play PG, but he did about as well as anyone can from that OKC pressure.
Yeah I agree. He showed me something for such a young g player. Too many people here don’t respect what Fox means to this team. Thinking Harper can take over for him. He isn’t ready yet. His D and energy is what he brought. 7/7 FT. He was solid. No doubt
It was a great game. Spurs almost blew it. Gotta give them credit. They never stopped playing. Total team win supporting Wemby.
For all you who think Wemby is going to avg 40 n 20. You need to wake up. Thunder ain’t going anywhere. And Spurs need Fox back. Only one game so relax.
IHart with only 12 mins. Is dumbfounding to me. This small ball bs is going to ruin this coach too.
You still think they don’t need to go for Giannis.