OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� For the 160th time in and fifth time this season alone, on Saturday night.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder will be taking on the San Antonio Spurs to decide the Western Conference title, after a back-and-forth series that has seen both teams leading at various points.
The winner will take on in the NBA Finals, starting Wednesday. Game 1 will be in either Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
Game 7s, Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, are the things 鈥渄reams鈥� are made of. But at least one of the Spurs said he had a little trouble getting to dreamland on Friday night; Devin Vassell revealed that he tossed and turned for at least a half-hour after trying to go to sleep.
鈥淚鈥檓 more excited than anything,” Vassell said at the Spurs’ Saturday morning shootaround. “I think that we have a chance to do something special.鈥�
The Thunder won a pair of Game 7s last season at home, including the one that delivered the NBA championship over the Indiana Pacers. But guard Alex Caruso warned that having Game 7 experience isn’t a reason to relax.
鈥淢aybe just being here before, you have comfortability,鈥� Caruso said. 鈥淏ut at the same time, you don’t want to be comfortable in a Game 7. If you’re comfortable, you’re probably not edgy enough. You probably don’t have a high enough sense of urgency. … You definitely don’t want to be comfortable.鈥�
Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell will not play for in Game 7 against because of injuries that have dogged both throughout the series.
Williams has been dealing with for much of the playoffs. Mitchell has a strained right soleus.
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