Kevin Garnett didn’t take it easy on Victor Wembanyama for his emotional outburst after taking down the Thunder in the Western Conference finals.
Wembanyama was in tears and hugging teammates after punching his ticket to the NBA Finals on Saturday, and Garnett ripped into the 22-year-old Spurs star and called him out for celebrating prematurely.
“He’s crying in the motherf–ing Western Conference finals. That was too emotional for me. He got four more games to try to get. You gotta go through the Finals now,” Garnett said on his podcast, “KG Certified.”
“You still gotta be even-keeled right here.”
With a 111-103 win over the Thunder in Game 7, the Spurs advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, two years after they finished 22-60.
Shortly after the celebration, Wembanyama was unanimously named the conference finals MVP — and for good reason.
Across the seven games, the 22-year-old phenom averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. In Game 7, he poured in 22 points and seven rebounds.
The 7-foot-4 big man didn’t just dominate the series, but was the driving force behind San Antonio’s 62-20 regular season and historic turnaround. He was a regular season MVP finalist and averaged a career-high 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
With an even more significant and emotional celebration possibly looming, the Spurs begin the NBA Finals Wednesday night at home against the Knicks.
It’s New York’s first Finals appearance since 1999, while San Antonio looks for its sixth title after winning five between 1999 and 2014.
