Stephon Castle, the 22-year-old San Antonio point guard whose 11 assists set the table for Victor Wembanyama's 41-point Game 1 masterpiece, stepped to the podium in Oklahoma City early Tuesday morning with the calm of a player who had been here all season.
"I think our composure was great," Castle told NBA on NBC. "From the start of the game to the end of the game, our guys were tired, but execution at that point in the game is so important and I feel like we executed perfectly, especially on the defensive end. Vic makes up for a lot of our mistakes, but for the most part I think we were on top of it. So I think that's what gave us the edge."
The play that swung the game in regulation, a 28-foot pull-up from Wembanyama to send the contest to overtime, did not surprise Castle in the slightest. Asked whether he thought the bomb from near the logo was going in, the rookie answered immediately.
"I knew that was going in," Castle said.
Castle was repeatedly asked what kept the Spurs composed across two overtime periods. His answer kept returning to mental rather than physical preparation.
"I mean, probably more mentally," Castle said. "By that point in the game, teams can't really change much and you know pretty much what you're going to see. It's just kind of doubling down on the details and the stuff that we worked on. Especially when our bodies are tired, our strategies. That's the biggest thing."
There was a subplot from before the opening tip that Castle was asked about and that has not received much attention amid the Wembanyama highlight reel. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning regular-season MVP, was presented with the trophy for back-to-back MVP awards in front of his home crowd in the pregame ceremony. Castle and his Spurs teammates, who had openly campaigned for Wembanyama's individual hardware on social media all season, sat through it.
"You guys all campaigned for him to get that big award this year," Castle was asked. "I think we probably knew for a while it was going to go to Shai. Like yesterday having that confirmation, today getting that trophy. What do you think that did for him and for the team to motivate him?"
Castle answered honestly.
"Yeah, I mean we felt like that was his trophy. I'm sure he felt the same way," Castle said. "So you kind of saw what his energy was like throughout the whole game. He stayed composed throughout the game. He didn't really complain about fouls or anything like that. He was big for us. He had a monster game. So him seeing that before the game and staying composed and having a game like that just speaks volumes to what his character is like."
Castle's own performance lifted the Spurs as much as Wembanyama's did. His 11 assists were a postseason career-high. His drive-and-kick game punished Oklahoma City's switches, his close-range finishes drew Cason Wallace and Lu Dort into rotation traps that ended in Wembanyama dunks, and his late-clock cuts produced the dagger lob with under a minute left in the second overtime.
Castle reserved a word about how the Spurs intend to handle Wednesday's Game 2.
"It was a tiring game. We did a lot of things bad in that game and still were able to come out on top, so that's probably the most reassuring thing," Castle said. "I think just moving past this game as quick as we can. Obviously, we celebrated it in the moment. It's a big-time win on the road against the defending champs, so you celebrate that, but I understand we got to come back in here and try to do it again on Wednesday. Just try to have short-term memory with wins and losses."
The short memory will be tested in 48 hours. The Spurs, who came in as four-and-a-half-point underdogs and held Oklahoma City to a 7-of-23 shooting night from the reigning MVP, will face an OKC team that has not lost back-to-back games at home all postseason. Castle, who arrived in San Antonio as the No. 4 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, is the rookie-turned-point guard the Spurs needed for this exact moment.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/stephon-castle-spurs-composure-double-overtime-thunder-game-1-wcf-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
