Fresh off a historic Game 6 performance, Victor Wembanyama faces Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a winner-take-all showdown to decide which young superstar will secure a spot in the NBA Finals.
If the San Antonio Spurs get their way, Oklahoma City is about to experience a Sunday night "Alien Invasion.''
And it's all about Victor Wembanyama, the 7-4 French sensation, being "otherworldly... one more time.
Wemby, at the tender age of 22, was not supposed to help the Spurs be this good, this fast. But suddenly, the young upstarts from San Antonio - after winning a very legit 62 games in the regular season - are one Victor Victory away from advancing to the NBA Finals, where the New York Knicks await.
Wemby was the power that led the Spurs' 118-91 win in Game 6, a blowout in which he scored 28 points, hitting on 10-of-21 shots from the field and going 4-of-9 from long range.
Wembanyama also added 10 boards, a pair of assists, two steals and three blocks.
In tying this best-of-seven series and forcing Game 7, Wembanyama became the first Spurs player to ever record 25 or more points, at least 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks in an elimination game.
And now all he has to do is ...
Do it again.
Said Wemby of what happened Thursday: “Trusted the game, trusted the basketball gods.''
Is "trust'' enough to drive the Spurs to the NBA title?
The Thunder are favored in Game 7, but only by 3.5 points. If that happens, it might be due to an offensive explosion from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who won the MVP this year (with Wemby as a runner-up). ... but who was held to just 15 points in Game 6.
And if San Antonio is able to pull off the upset?
It will likely be due to the work of Wembanyama, who for all of the criticism of his "ups and downs,'' has reached 20 points in every game of the Western Conference Finals to this point.
This is the time and the place where reputations and careers are made. A Game 7 win at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City with a tipoff at 7 p.m. CT can serve as a gigantic Wembanyama resume-builder.
Right before our eyes, he's evolving in this still-young three-year career. Go to the NBA Finals and this "Alien'' will then invade New York, where - again - reputations and careers are made.
This good. This fast. Maybe with a little help from Wemby's "basketball gods.''
