00:00That was one of the single greatest nights I've ever seen as a sports fan.
00:05That performance by Victor Wimbanyama was an all-time just dominant, sensational, eye-opening,
00:13eye-popping performance. Victor Wimbanyama last night was some kind of combination of
00:18Wilt Chamberlain, Steph Curry, Shohei Ohtani, and an alien freak. That was an iconic out-of-this-world
00:26performance. What transpired right from the jump in this game, this was one of those where,
00:33honestly, you'll never forget where you were when Wimby did this. Watching him dominate all game
00:40long, watching him be the best player on SGA's floor, watching him act like the best player in
00:48all of sports, watching him do his thing when it matters the most and carry this team to this
00:54kind of victory, game one of the Western Conference Finals, are you kidding me, on the road in OKC,
01:02against a Thunder team that, simply put, was 8-0 in the playoffs, had it lost in the postseason?
01:11Six of those eight games were by double digits, and Wimby stole their soul and stole home court
01:19last night? That was unbelievable. Some of these plays were just next level. I mean, my goodness.
01:28You want to talk offense? You want to talk defense? You want to talk about rebounding the basketball?
01:33You want to talk about history? 41 points, 24 rebounds. Youngest player in NBA history with a 40-20
01:41playoff game. Blocks, steals, everything about it was next level. I mean, you start thinking about
01:49what Wimby did in overtime, what Victor Wimby did to send the game to double overtime, to propel the
01:59baby Spurs, who averaged an age of 22 years old in their starting lineup last night. What he did making
02:07that shot last night. That was one of the all-time great shots and exclamation points on a night at
02:16the
02:16office that you will ever see. For Victor Wimby, who's 8 feet tall, to pull up last night from 28
02:26feet
02:27away and hit that shot, I've never seen anything quite like that. To hit that shot at the end of
02:32the
02:32first overtime, from the logo, 8 feet tall, 28 feet away. That is unreal. To stop and pop
02:41as someone who's 8 feet tall in transition. That is wild. Absolutely wild. And look,
02:50you check on DraftKings today, it's basically even odds when it comes to who's ultimately going to win
02:57this series. And we say it all the time. You rarely see it in the history of the NBA. We
03:02could talk
03:02about the Thunder. We could talk about the Warriors. We could talk about the Chicago Bulls. We could talk
03:06about different versions of the Lakers and the Celtics and the Houston Rockets in the 90s and the San
03:12Antonio Spurs before their dynasty. You usually never see teams skip steps. You don't go from non-playoff
03:20team to champion. You have to deal with adversity. But when you have a player who can do this, I
03:25mean,
03:25look at this. Look at that reaction from Wemby and his teammates. I mean, we were all watching
03:34in amazement. This great job by NBC capturing that shot last night. Watching the players on the Spurs,
03:43their jaws are hitting the floor. I mean, that's something you'll never see ever again. I mean,
03:49that was unreal. And when you see Wemby do this and you know it's his league and you know he's
03:56sensational and to steal that game last night, look, Spurs can absolutely win this series.
04:02We told you OKC in seven. I am not going to overreact. I'm not going to back off that pick
04:07and prediction. But I do think, and we've been screaming this, right? There are four teams all
04:13year since we launched Shine Time that I said you could see winning a championship. And this is exactly what
04:18I've been saying to you from day one. Those teams were OKC, San Antonio, the Lakers. I said that at
04:24the time in March and the Knicks. That was it. Those were the four teams. And I said before this
04:29series, you could see San Antonio win. We picked OKC in seven. Look, I thought this was a bitter
04:35disappointment for OKC for a few different levels, right? Normally when, and I thought San Antonio last
04:42night was phenomenal. Even beyond Wemby, who was out of this world. I mean, you can't take your eyes
04:47off Victor Wemba-Yama. Those plays at the end, that dunk and one, that was incredible. Double
04:53overtime from Wemby when he outscored OKC by himself, nine to seven. The dunk at the end,
04:59Castle getting him the ball was incredible. But I honestly last night, I sent this on the group chat
05:06with our Shine Time crew, with my guy Griff and Rich. The minutes that the Aaron Fox was out,
05:13I thought that grossly favored OKC. And I was wrong. And I'm thrilled that I was wrong on that. I
05:19want
05:19to admit that to you guys. We obviously were not on the air. And I thought that OKC would win
05:23a great
05:24one and a tight one last night. But when Fox was ruled out, I thought that was a turning point.
05:30Dylan Harper stepped in and he was unbelievable. I can give you the stats. The feel was even better.
05:35He filled up the box score, points, rebounds, steals. He was just omnipresent. I don't want
05:41to hear about Castle and the turnovers. He was the king of the Castle. He was terrific last night.
05:47Points, defense, assists, his assist total, 11 matched the turnovers. And honestly, I was stunned
05:53when Mike Tirico and Jamal Crawford and Reggie Miller mentioned his turnover number because it didn't
05:59even feel that way watching the game. You look at Vassal, he was terrific. Champagne was outstanding.
06:05I love Johnson off the bench. This is not a fluke in any way, shape or form. And it all
06:12just fuels and funnels around this freak of a talented and Victor Wimbanyama. And look,
06:18I thought Alex Caruso was terrific last night and he was hitting shot after shot. He pumped
06:23in over 30. He was outstanding. 31 points for Caruso. I live for SGA. I thought SGA had a bad
06:30game. I don't even want to hear, well, he played better as it moved along. 7 of 23 from the
06:35field.
06:36That's not good basketball. He made one field goal in the first half of this game. And I always
06:42defend SGA, always defend his style of play, always defend how ultimately he's able to get
06:48it done. Did make a good pass at the end. J-Dub, who came back missing the prior six games
06:53with that hamstring injury. He missed that wide open three, right? I really was disappointed
06:59how SGA played. And normally, think about this, right? When San Antonio, the underdog,
07:05the upstart team, when they outplay the defending champs, the MVP, their building, and you see,
07:12you know, the better team for four quarters, but OKC comes back, goes into overtime. The home team
07:19always finds a way to win. That didn't happen last night. Then after the first overtime, all right,
07:24now it's going to be OKC's time to shine. That wasn't the case. And that's all because of what we
07:31saw
07:31with Victor Wimbanyama, who was forcing the issue in every possible way. Caruso was a microwave last
07:38night. I mean, he was sensational. He was heating up. He was doing an unbelievable job. And look,
07:43I'm not here to make bold proclamations on now this is Wemby's series in terms of San Antonio is
07:51going to find a way in a lock to win it. But that was last night, one of those games.
07:56I know it's game
07:57one. I love that we're going to get it. I think the series is going seven. I predicted that before
08:01the
08:01series started. We're going to get six more of these bad boys. And remember, I gave you this stat
08:05yesterday, and this to me was supremely important. Spurs are four and one against OKC in the regular
08:10season. That matters to me because I do think with the Thunder, with SGA over the last couple of
08:16seasons, there's this air of invincibility. But Wemby has this unbelievable knack to make that air just
08:23poof, disappear. And when you have a freak who can just pull up in transition, I mean, we could just
08:29wallpaper the whole show with this shot, and I would be A-OK with this. I mean, my goodness.
08:36Victor Wemby-Nyama, absolutely next level. This guy is must-see TV. He is a freak. He's like a
08:42Mad Libs game. If you ever played that game as a kid, you could just insert word and adjective here,
08:48and it all just relates because I've never seen anything. No one has seen anything quite like
08:54Victor Wemby-Nyama and what he was able to do last night. That's one of those games.
08:59Double overtime wins. You'll always remember where you were when. And if the Spurs go on to win this
09:06series, if the Spurs go on to win a championship and it's all in play, we will circle back to
09:12last
09:12night. The points, the rebounds, the blocks, the bomb Steph Curry-esque from the Logo 3-pointer.
09:19It's one of those games that you'll always remember as a Wemby fan, as an NBA fan, as a sports
09:26fan. Now, how much was Wemby motivated by watching SGA get handed the MVP before the game? Take a
09:33listen to this. Pretty natural response for a competitor to see another competitor get something
09:38that he wants, you know, whether it's the MVP trophy or whatever it might be. I'm just curious if
09:42that was in your mind at all, knowing that Shea had got that award and you were in the top
09:46three for
09:47it. And, you know, did any part of tonight feel personal? I know some of your facial expressions
09:51kind of looked like you were really, really going for it. Yeah, for sure. Anything you just said.
09:57What a breath of fresh air. I love Wemby. I love when he campaigned for the MVP during the course
10:02of the regular season. I love that question and I love that answer. And what's the beauty of that
10:08answer and the way Wemby phrased it? He allows people like us shows like ours to play the clip
10:17without creating a headline. But, and I had no issue, obviously, and you've heard me say this
10:23with SGA winning the MVP. But, clearly, the best player on the floor last night was Victor
10:31Wemby-Nyamba. And I think that there are so many different ways to kind of split the conversation
10:38on this. You know, if you're going to say best player in this series, well, based upon this
10:43season, last season, you could easily say SGA, build your team around. It's going to be
10:48Wemby-Nyamba. Who could dominate this series? Wemby-Nyamba. And Victor Wemby-Nyamba went into
10:53this and was pissed off. And I like that. He played with an edge. He played like he was
10:58disrespected. He talked in the month of March how much it would mean to him on a personal,
11:01professional level of winning the MVP. Not just as an individual award, meaning his team
11:06was that great in terms of winning that kind of prestigious honor. So, to me, that's what
11:14sports, what it's all about. That's what you want from a superstar. Not this nonchalant,
11:19I don't care, see how the chips fall, whatever dopey cliche. Wemby doesn't do cliches. He goes
11:26out on the court and wants to kick ass and take names. And what also just gets me about,
11:32you know, someone like Wemby-Nyamba, he sees this, and I love this, and he's genuinely pissed.
11:38He's genuinely annoyed that this trophy is going to Shane Gillis-Alexander from Adam Silver
11:44and not in his hands. This scene bothered the hell out of him. And then you watch the beginning
11:52of that game last night, and it's like, bam, Wemby was shot out of a cannon. And that's what
11:58you love if you're a sports fan, if you're a Spurs fan. It's none of this, well, SGA deserved it.
12:03Let's, you know, cliche the entire thing. No, that's not how it goes. So, to me, what I loved
12:10was every little element of Wemby before the game, during the game, after the game. And I also love
12:18this too, right? Wemby understands who he is. His teammates absolutely love him. The bench reaction,
12:26I thought NBC, first of all, Mike Tirico is unbelievable, and Reggie Miller didn't even
12:29piss me off last night. But I love the truck last night for NBC. The shots that they showed like
12:35this, the shots that they showed from the teammates on the bench, the shock and awe. Fox, who was in
12:43street clothes last night. Man, Wemby wanted that MVP. Wemby wanted that win. Wemby was out of this
12:50world once again, and that was just an incredible night to be a sports fan.
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