Jared Weiss

1-on-1 with Wemby: Victor Wembanyama’s blood clot threatened to take away almost everything he held dearly. It also lit a fire within him to expand his world. Months later, he found himself standing in front of Big Red and the captains of his passion project that he hand selected, delivering the first PowerPoint presentation of his life. From tears to puke to cheers, this is the crazy story of Wemby and the Jackals, the NBA’s first ultras fan group. Wemby wanted to build something bigger than himself. It became so much more. New Wemby exclusive on @TheAthleticNBA theathletic.com/6966415/2026/0…

Wemby on OKC matchup: "Of course we're confident but we need to keep the right confidence level. Right now I'm not even thinking about it. I'm just thinking about recovering, I'm thinking about getting this press conference over with.”

Steph Castle on Anthony Edwards coming over to congratulate the Spurs bench early in the fourth quarter: "I’ve never seen that before. But it was cool. We were competing all series, so for him to come over there and show that kind of respect, it was definitely cool."

Live reaction from the Spurs advancing to the Western Conference Finals to face the Thunder

From @TheAthletic: The Spurs and Victor Wembanyama knocked out the Timberwolves to set up an NBA conference finals battle with the Thunder. nyti.ms/4tBJSpa

Mitch Johnson was asked about the notion that the Spurs are ahead of schedule: "I’m not being facetious, but ahead of schedule of what? ... We never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. ... It's been pretty fun when you see. a group of guys that are willing to give themselves to the team and the process, regardless of what that means for themselves."

Wemby and Gobert hug it out as the Spurs eliminate the Wolves to advance to the conference finals. Here’s our interview with Gobert on mentoring Wemby: nytimes.com/athletic/72511…

21-year-old Steph Castle passed Luka Dončić to become the youngest player in NBA history with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 threes in a game, per @Stathead. The only players to have 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in the playoffs, without factoring in the 3s, are Magic Johnson, LeBron James (3x), Paolo Banchero and Dončić.

Wemby's ability to play backwards is something else, man

Ant quickly clawing the Wolves back into this game by going straight over Wemby multiple times was something special. He's just got the juice and knows when to hit the gas.

Julian Champagnie just finally hit a 3 after missing his first 4 of the game and celebrated like he hit a game-winner 😂

De'Aaron Fox just randomly keeled over in pain and has hobbled back to the locker room. He gave some instructions to Castle, said something to Mitch Johnson, then ran off. He did appear to bang his knee a couple of times on those last few possessions, so it may just be a bone bruise.

One thing the refs have to figure out with Wemby is how to officiate his balance. He fell over because his center of gravity was too high and forward and then Gobert put an arm into his back pretty lightly, which looked like a legal guarding position to me. Victor shold have to keep himself up under contact when he stretches out to make these difficult catches.

It's always crazy when Wemby drives left into a guy and then goes up to try to draw a foul, and he switches the ball to his right hand in mid air to throw it at the rim and get the free throws.

Fox, Castle and Harper are 14/17 from the field for 36 points. The Wolves have 39 points. The Slash Bros have been borderline perfect tonight.

The Spurs have 56 points in 17 minutes. The NBA record for most points in a playoff game is 157, which the Celtics set in 1990. They are certainly on pace to make a run at the record.

The Wolves crowd is out of the game now and are booing. The Spurs have now almost doubled up the Wolves and this series is fading quickly.

On the @nytimes: How Gregg Popovich, El Jefe, has quietly become the Spurs’ secret weapon by continuing to mentor players across the roster in support of coach Mitch Johnson. “Sometimes he calls me so fast after the game that we’re still in the locker room and I can’t even answer it.” Read below 👇

From @TheAthletic: In the wake of Jason Collins’ death earlier this week, Charles Barkley lamented how little he thinks societal acceptance has changed since Collins came out as the first openly gay player in the NBA more than a decade ago. nyti.ms/4eIXds4

De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper are off the Spurs’ injury report, which is empty heading into tomorrow’s elimination game against the Wolves.