The San Antonio Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, and one player's extra effort put the Spurs over the top.
In the San Antonio Spurs' first six games of their Western Conference Finals matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Luke Kornet was unplayable. In the regular season, he had been a steady hand off the bench, the backup to Victor Wembanyama that the Spurs had been searching for ever since they drafted him first overall in 2023.
In the first six games of the series, however, Kornet posted a pathetic 2.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in limited minutes. In Game 7, after his rough outings, Mitch Johnson was only going to sub him in when absolutely necessary.
Wembanyama played 42 minutes in Game 7. Kornet only played six, but he made the most of it, besting Manu Ginobili for the best block in Spurs' playoff history.
Luke Kornet Sealed Game 7
In Game 5 of the 2017 second round, the Spurs were tied 2-2 with the Houston Rockets and up by three points in the final seconds. The Rockets won a jump ball and found James Harden, who split Ginobili and Jonathon Simmons before rising up for a 3-pointer.
Ginobili reached over Harden and blocked the shot, giving the Spurs a last-second series lead. They would eventually move on to the Western Conference Finals.
Kornet's chase-down block on Isaiah Hartenstein in the fourth quarter didn't have the last-second implications of Ginobili's block, but it turned a wide-open dunk into a Stephon Castle midrange jumper on the other end of the floor.
While Kornet's block looked more like LeBron James' 2016 rejection than Ginobili's (a sentence no one ever thought they would write), the Spurs' legend took to social media after the game to give "The Green Kornet" some props.
"This one was the game-winning play!" posted Ginobili. "It changed everything!! Luuuuuuuuke!!"
Most of the Spurs' legends (Duncan, Robinson) aren't active on social media, but Bruce Bowen's defense got his jersey hung in the rafters. He also got online after the game and shared a message with some key players.
For the first time since 2014, the Spurs are back in the NBA Finals. There, they will face the New York Knicks, who are looking for their fdirst banner since 1973. New York's last Finals apperance came in 1999, when they lost to the Duncan and Robinson-led Spurs.
