San Antonio break, Spurs lead against Oklahoma on the wings of Vembanyama

The San Antonio Spurs took a 1-0 lead in the NBA Western Conference finals after defeating Oklahoma City 122-115 in two overtimes on Monday night.

San Antonio was led by Victor Wembanyama with 41 points and 24 rebounds, while Dillon Harper added 24 points and seven steals.

Vembanjama settled the question of the winner in the final minute of the second overtime with two attractive dunks, one of which was with an additional free throw, which allowed San Antonio to take home-court advantage from its rival and defeat Oklahoma for the fifth time in six meetings this season.

Stephon Castle also had double-digit performance for San Antonio with 17 points, while Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson scored 13 each. Julian Champagne added 11 points.

"A great effort from all the players," said Wembanyama, who at 22 years and 134 days old became the youngest player in playoff history to score at least 40 points and grab 20 rebounds in a game. The previous record was held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1970 NBA Finals.

Oklahoma City's Alex Caruso led the way with 31 points, the second-highest scoring performance of his career. Jaylen Williams returned from a six-game hiatus with a hamstring injury and scored 26 points, while reigning MVP Shai Gilges-Alexander finished with 24 points and 12 assists.

This was only the sixth first game of a playoff series in NBA history to go into a second overtime, and the first since the 2013 duel between San Antonio and Golden State.

San Antonio had a ten-point lead in the final quarter, but Oklahoma managed to come back. In a dramatic finale of regulation, the teams exchanged the lead several times, and Vembanjama missed the game-winning shot at the buzzer.

However, the French center redeemed himself in the first overtime period by hitting a three-pointer to tie the game with 28 seconds left, sending the game into a second overtime period, in which San Antonio won.

The second game of the series is played on the night between Wednesday and Thursday in Oklahoma.