Hovering on the weakside, Chet Holmgren’s help conjured up a redemption moment that fits your prototypical Disney movie script. He emphatically swatted away Victor Wembanyama’s potential game-winner at the end of regulation. Finally, a positive moment for the 24-year-old. Alas, it was all for naught.
The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn’t outlast the San Antonio Spurs in a stress-filled 122-115 double-overtime Game 1 loss. They start these epic Western Conference Finals in a 0-1 series deficit.
Holmgren finished with eight points on 2-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds. He shot 2-of-4 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had two blocks and one steal.
I might be late to the party, but I think it’s fair to finally say it — Holmgren has a Wembanyama problem. Anytime the Thunder match up with the Spurs, his game regresses from All-NBA-caliber to somebody you can’t fully trust to be on the floor at times. It happened in their regular-season games. And has now happened in their first NBA playoff clash.
Holmgren was a complete ghost as a scorer. All of those fancy stats that said he was an elite play-finisher went out the window. Sitting at five points at halftime, he only had three more the rest of the way — in a game where he logged 41 minutes. Not only was the offense a no-show, but the defense fell apart.
Holmgren’s top quality is his rim protection. We all know that. It’s what’s helped him become a household name and a top-two pick. But against the Spurs, he was pushed around too easily. For context, San Antonio shot an unreal 54% from inside the paint. They got anything they wanted down low. Just look at Wembanyama’s efficient 40-burger for proof.
And while Holmgren tasted a sample of redemption with his help block to force overtime, that was really it in terms of positives from a three-hour adrenaline-inducing game. Not exactly what you want to see from your second-best player this season. I really don’t know what else the Thunder can do. This has been an ongoing problem since both joined the NBA. And now it’s being shown on the biggest stage possible.
You just hope this is just Holmgren’s floor. But Wembanyama has haunted him for years now. Maybe matching up those two more often can produce better results, but that’s based more on hope and small-sample theater than anything else. This was just a flat-out bad outing for the 24-year-old.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Chet Holmgren’s Spurs-fueled nightmares continue in Thunder’s Game 1 loss