The Game 1 Western Conference Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs did not disappoint on Monday night. In the double-overtime thriller, the Spurs were able to pull away and steal one on the road with a final score of 122-115.
For the Spurs’ superstar, Victor Wembanyama, he was electric, arguably playing the best game of his short career. In 49 minutes, Wembanyama finished with 41 points, 24 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks.
On the flip side of the matchup, Thunder big man Chet Holmgren was limited to eight points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. The 24-year-old struggled to get anything going offensively, but came up big with a clutch block in the final seconds to force the first overtime.
Mark Daigneault Addresses Chet Holmgren’s Offensive Struggles in Game 1
It was Chet Holmgren’s postseason low in points in Game 1. It makes sense, though, matching up with the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Victor Wembanyama.
This won’t stop Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault from trying to get the big man more involved moving forward.
“I think the general attacks on the offense will benefit everybody. Put everybody at advantages, including him,” Daigneault said. “The playoffs to this point have been a lot of that for him. He’s been very effective.”
“I think if we play better collectively, he’ll be more involved, and we’ll be able to get more cracks offensively.”
The points in the paint are an interesting point of emphasis for the Thunder this series. San Antonio has a unique ability to clog up the paint with Victor Wembanyama on the inside, so being able to shoot beyond the three-point line will be crucial for Oklahoma City.
Outside of Alex Caruso’s electric performance, three-point shooting didn’t work out for the Thunder in Game 1. Caruso shot 8-of-14 (57%) from three in the loss, but the rest of the Thunder squad shot 9-of-31 (29%).
Mark Daigneault: ‘Everything is on the Table.’
Oklahoma City’s defensive game plan ultimately didn’t stop Victor Wembanyama in Game 1, but Mark Daigneault will look for the adjustments needed to limit him more in the rest of the series.
“Everything is on the table,” Daigneault said. “You can’t just throw one pitch throughout the whole series.”
“We have reasons why we approached the game why we did last night. Some of that was the regular-season matchups. Some of that was the stuff that we saw in the first couple of rounds from ourselves and from them,” the Thunder coach added.
“In these series, one of the things you’ve got to do is figure out what the problems are, and you’ve got to put the fires out pretty quickly. That’s our challenge. We got to work on that with the team today, and we’ll continue to work on that tomorrow, and then we’ll throw our best pitch.”
As in any other sport, in basketball, you have to adjust. The defending champions will make the necessary changes for Game 2. As for Chet Holmgren, the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up will try to change something up with the rest of his squad.
Game 2 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs takes place on Wednesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CDT.
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