In Thunder-Spurs Game 7, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ready for biggest game of career

SAN ANTONIO — After being routed by the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sat in front of his locker and told several Oklahoma City Thunder teammates how “fire” his postgame noodles were.

The two-time NBA MVP also understands the Thunder are in the line of fire: Their season and dream to repeat as NBA champions are on the line in Saturday’s Game 7 in Oklahoma City.

“Honestly, anything can happen in a Game 7,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the 118-91 loss. “It’s win or go home. Them being in your building is nice, but it doesn’t really mean anything. You have to go out there and be the better basketball team, or else your season is done. That is what it comes down to.

“It’s going to be nice to have our fans behind us and cheering us. But we have to go out there and be better. And if we’re not better, our season will be over.”

To avoid that fate, the Thunder must secure one more win over rising superstar center Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs back at Paycom Center. The odds of repeating as champs are certainly against Oklahoma City, as no franchise has done that since the Golden State Warriors in 2018.

But even after their most disappointing loss of the season Thursday, the 27-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammates had a lively postgame locker room once the dust settled.

“That is just who we are,” Thunder guard Cason Wallace said. “We’ve always stuck together ever since I’ve been on the team and been in this organization.”

From the experience gained from their title season a year ago, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder know how to remain calm under pressure.

The Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals to win their first championship since moving from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008. Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 NBA Finals MVP, scored 29 points in that game.

Weeks before that, Oklahoma City blew out Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the 2025 Western Conference semifinals. Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 in that game.

The Thunder have also been particularly formidable at home, where they are 6-1 this postseason, potentially giving them another reason for confidence Saturday.

For Wembanyama and most of his teammates, meanwhile, Game 7 is new territory. The Spurs last played in a Game 7 in 2019, losing to the Nuggets in the first round. No current San Antonio players were on that team. The Thunder also have not lost two games in a row in the postseason; the last time they did so in the regular season was in late January.

“We’re just a motivated group, and we accept the challenge ahead,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Every game is going to present us a good challenge. And obviously, when you lose, it hurts a little bit more and there is a little extra motivation. And we tend to fight a little harder.”

The bigger challenge for the Thunder is injuries.

Forward Jalen Williams scored one point in his return from a hamstring injury Thursday after missing the previous three games. Second-year guard Ajay Mitchell (calf) appears to be a long shot to return for Game 7. But Gilgeous-Alexander said he felt fine mentally and physically and is aware of the magnitude of Game 7 and his role in it.

“This is the biggest game of my career,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “… It’s the next game. And if I lose, the season is over.”

Meanwhile, Wembanyama and the Spurs appear to be taking a more business-like approach in this unfamiliar territory.

The Spurs are in the midst of their first playoffs since 2019. They are one win from returning to the Finals for the first time since 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat to secure the franchise’s fifth NBA title.

A driven Wembanyama is expected to become the league’s next big superstar, and a win in Oklahoma City will put him on a Finals stage for the first time. Two-time All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox also has a chance to prove he is one of the league’s top players by advancing to the Finals for the first time.

“It’s great. Obviously, I’ve been in the league for a long time. Having this opportunity is big,” Fox, who had played in just one playoff series in his eight years in the league prior to this season, told Andscape. “We had to go out there and play [in Game 6] like we know how we can play. I think this is the 11th time [this season] we’ve played this team. We know what we want to do. And when we do the things that we’ve preached, we give ourselves a chance to win.”

There was no fanfare and one Spurs player yelled, “One more!” after the team headed to the locker room triumphant on Thursday. Wembanyama didn’t take any media questions after losing Game 5 and just answered a few after Game 6.

“[Playing with desperation] just feels like it erases kind of all the little mistakes that we do that are human nature, whether it’s in the regular season or previous games,” Wembanyama said. “Just got to fight that all the time and put your backs against the wall. It feels like it’s the best opportunity to be able to play.”

While the West’s two best teams are beating each other up game by game in a heavyweight match, the New York Knicks are at home awaiting their Finals opponent.

The Knicks advanced by completing a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday in the Eastern Conference finals. New York will have eight days off before Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 3 in either Oklahoma City or San Antonio. The Knicks, however, did have some bad news as center Mitchell Robinson suffered a broken right pinkie finger, though sources told ESPN he plans to play Game 1 after undergoing surgery.

“At the end of the day, both teams are great, both teams will be a challenge for us, and we’ll be focused. That’s all. We’re ready to go,” Knicks coach Mike Brown told reporters Thursday.

While the NBA is expected to be in Wembanyama’s mammoth hands at some point, it currently belongs to Gilgeous-Alexander. But the two-time defending MVP is coming off his worst game of these playoffs, as he scored just 15 points, his playoff low, and missed 12 of 18 shots in Game 6.

Facing 7-foot-4 Wembanyama roaming the paint and tough 1-on-1 defense from Fox and Stephon Castle, Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 37.9% from the field, 26.1% from 3-point range and averaging 3.2 turnovers per game in the Western Conference finals.

Gilgeous-Alexander says he won’t change anything for Saturday and will “trust it and live or die by it.” But with repeat championship hopes on the line, Wallace has faith in Gilgeous-Alexander to lead the Thunder back to the Finals with a breakthrough Game 7 performance.

“He is going to be the best player in the league,” Wallace said. “When it comes down to it, he proves it.”

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