Victor Wembanyama made his return from injury for the San Antonio Spurs and helped them reach the NBA Cup final with a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The French sensation, who missed 12 games with a left calf issue, scored 22 points as the Spurs dramatically beat the NBA champions 111-109 in Las Vegas.
Wembanyama also registered nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks during his 21 minutes on court as the Thunder lost for only the second time in 26 games this season.
“I knew I had limited minutes so I had to make the most out of it,” said 21-year-old Wembanyama, whose team-mate Devin Vassell scored 23 points.
“Winning against a team like this, it might seem like it’s just a game but it’s a collective effort and it’s not an easy thing.
“It’s only their second loss of the season. It means something.”
The NBA Cup is the competition’s annual in-season tournament, with all matches except the final also counting towards the regular season standings.
The Thunder were beaten in last year’s final by the Milwaukee Bucks and had a 16-game winning run ended by the Spurs as they exited this season’s competition.
Oklahoma City had equalled the best 25-game start to a season when they went 24-1 by beating the Phoenix Suns in the quarter-finals, but they have now made the second best start to a campaign after 26 games as the Golden State Warriors were 25-1 at the same stage in 2015-16.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, top scored for the Thunder against the Spurs with a game-high 29 points.
San Antonio will play the New York Knicks in the final after they beat the Orlando Magic 132-120.
Jalen Brunson scored a season-high 40 points to inspire the Knicks to victory, while team-mate Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 points.
“We came out here and did exactly what we said we wanted to do, which was play Knicks basketball,” said Towns.
