SAN ANTONIO (AP) — It's tempting, but the San Antonio Spurs will not play Victor Wembanyama every minute of regulation against Oklahoma City even as they trail the Thunder 2-1 in the Western Conference finals.
Instead, San Antonio has to find a way to play better when Wembanyama rests because Oklahoma City is dominating when the 7-foot-4 star from France is on the bench.
The Thunder are two wins away from returning to the NBA Finals with Game 4 on Sunday in San Antonio.
Oklahoma City has won two straight by an average of 12 points since Wembanyama had 41 points, 24 rebounds and three rebounds in 49 minutes during San Antonio's 122-115 double-overtime victory in Game 1 on Monday.
As the Spurs seek solutions, playing Wembanyama more minutes is intriguing but not viable.
“The idea is there,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said, smiling, “but, yeah, I think as we’ve seen it, him fresh or somewhat fresh is still the best. ... We don’t want to sacrifice our style of play and the identity that we’ve been building since October.”
The Spurs were a plus-4 in Wembanyama's 39 minutes in Game 3's 123-108 loss to the Thunder on Friday. That number may seem inconsequential, but San Antonio was minus-15 as a team and its main reserves were in the negative by double digits.
MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a team-high 26 points, but the rest of the starters combined for 21 points.
Their scoring wasn't needed Friday.
Oklahoma City's bench outscored San Antonio's 76-23 and were a combined 14 for 29 on 3-pointers. The 76 bench points are the most in the conference finals since the NBA went to the 16-team playoff format in 1984.
“We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries throughout the year, but it’s built us,” Thunder center Jaylin Williams said. “It’s built us as a team. It’s built us as players to be ready for the moment, to be ready when your name is called.”
Williams had a playoff career-high 18 points, and fellow reserve Jared McCain finished with 24 points.
The Spurs opened Game 3 on a 15-0 run, the longest run to open a game in the conference finals since the play-by-play era began in 1997. San Antonio led 19-4 when Wembanyama subbed out with seven minutes remaining in the quarter but the Thunder cut the deficit to 24-19 when he returned with 3:44 remaining in the first.
The Thunder's depth also allows them to throw multiple bodies and looks to wear on Wembanyama and the Spurs.
“I know I’m not going to play as many minutes as (Wembanyama) is, so the minutes I’m out there I’m trying to make his job as tough as I can make it,” Williams said.
Making matters worse for the Spurs is two of their primary playmakers and scorers are battling injuries.
Point guards De'Aaron Fox (sprained right ankle) and Dylan Harper (right adductor soreness) played in Game 3 but were not at 100%. Fox also appeared to injure his left ankle in the third quarter but returned shortly after exiting for the locker room.
“They came out of the game, finished on their own accord,” Johnson said. “I took them out, so that’s a plus and as of now we expect them to be ready to go. So, those guys are giving us all they got, and I commend them and tip my cap because they’re competing ... and they’re not 100%."
There was no update on their playing status as of Sunday afternoon.
The diminished health of Fox and Harper along with Oklahoma City's physicality has slowed San Antonio's usual breakneck pace offensively.
The Spurs played reserve center Luke Kornet alongside Wembanyama at times Friday in an attempt to improve its rebounding and spark a faster pace, but the Thunder limited that as well.
“That’s been good for us all year,” Castle said of the Spurs' pace. “I don’t think it’s just against them that it’s crucial that we have those possessions, but, I mean, I think that comes from getting stops first.”
Castle did not want to give away any strategy, but he did say the Spurs discovered some “schematic stuff” that should fix their lapses on both ends for Game 4.
Regardless, San Antonio has to find a way to keep playing with Wembanyama on the bench.
“I feel like each and every one of us has got to be better,” Wembanyama said. “Yeah, I think it’s just that as a team, as an organization, there’s a lot of new experiences. We’re just going to have to find the answers.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, middle, handles the ball as San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle, left, and forward Victor Wembanyama (1) defend during the second half of Game 3 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series Friday, May 22, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson, forwards Keldon Johnson (3) and Victor Wembanyama (1) look on during the second half of Game 3 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday, May 22, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Clashes erupted between groups of protesters and riot police after a huge anti-government rally on Saturday in the Serbian capital of Belgrade by tens of thousands of opponents of the country's autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.
While the rally at a central square in Belgrade passed peacefully, groups of young assailants later clashed with riot police, throwing flares, rocks and bottles at police cordons. Police responded with pepper spray as they charged forward to disperse them.
The groups, including apparent soccer hooligans, rolled trash cans into the streets as shield-carrying riot police tried to surround them. Police parked anti-riot vehicles in a central Belgrade area to block the demonstrators from returning and the violence soon ended. Police said 23 people were detained.
Crowds of protesters earlier on Saturday streamed into central Belgrade, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts inscribed with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement which organized the gathering. Columns of cars drove into Belgrade from other Serbian towns earlier in the day.
Vucic has sought to curb the mass demonstrations that have shaken his hard-line rule in the Balkan country. Big crowds on Saturday suggested the dissent persists more than a year after protests first started to demand accountability for a train station tragedy in Serbia’s north in November 2024 that killed 16 people.
Serbia’s state railway company on Saturday canceled all trains to and from Belgrade, in an apparent bid to stop at least some people from coming from other parts of the country.
The president said in a video on Instagram on Saturday that protesters “have shown their violent nature and that they cannot stand political opponents.” Vucic, who was on his way to China for a state visit, added that “the state is functioning and will continue to work in line with the law.”
Anti-corruption protests forced then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign in January 2025 before authorities pushed back hard against the protesters. Many people in Serbia blamed the concrete canopy crash at the station on alleged graft-fueled negligence during the renovation work on the building carried out with Chinese companies.
The students on Saturday demanded an early election and the rule of law, accusing the government of crime and corruption.
Prosecutor Bojana Savovic told the crowd that “a state where laws are not implemented or are implemented selectively is no longer a state, it becomes a mafia organization.”
Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic downplayed the student rally, saying “it offered nothing new.” Police estimated that 34,300 people came to the rally, while organizers said it was many more, without giving a specific figure.
Clashes first erupted in the vicinity of a park camp of Vucic's loyalists outside the Serbian presidency building that he set up ahead of another big anti-government rally last March as a human shield against protesters. Folk music blared from a fenced area surrounded by rows of riot police in full gear.
The Serbian president has faced international scrutiny for his hard-line tactics against the demonstrators in the past year, including arbitrary arrests and use of excessive force. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticized Serbia’s government in a report this week and said he “will monitor the situation closely” on Saturday.
O’Flaherty also cited “reports of police protecting unidentified and often masked attackers of journalists and protesters.” He said the overall rights situation has deteriorated since his previous visit in April 2025.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry but it has nourished close ties with Russia and China. The democratic backsliding under Vucic could cost the country around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funding, the EU’s top enlargement official warned last month.
The venue on Saturday was Belgrade’s Slavija Square, the scene of a huge anti-government protest in March 2025. That rally ended in sudden disruption that experts later said — and the government denied — involved the use of a sonic weapon against peaceful demonstrators.
The youth movement’s quest for justice and rule of law has resonated widely among Serbia’s citizens, who are disillusioned with established politicians after decades of perpetual crisis.
Students now say they plan to challenge Vucic at the approaching elections that they hope will oust the right-wing populist government. Vucic said this week that the ballot could be held between September and November this year.
Vucic, government officials and the pro-government media have branded critics as foreign agents who wish to destroy the country — rhetoric that has ramped up political polarization.
Protester Maja Milas Markovic said students “managed to gather us here with their youth and wonderful energy; I really believe that we have right to live normally.”
Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.
A man throws a cobblestone at riot police as clashes break out during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A woman who said she is pregnant stands in front of riot policemen as they prepare to disperse anti-government protesters during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Riot police move in to disperse anti-government protesters during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Riot police detains an anti-government protester as clashes break out during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man throws a cobblestone at riot police as clashes break out during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Anti-government protesters holding a banner that reads "The students are winning" take part in a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Anti-government protesters take part in a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Anti-government protesters take part in a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Riot policemen stand by an enclosure for government supporters before the first big rally of the year led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An anti-government protester takess photos of a dog before the first big rally of the year led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
An anti-government protester holds a flag before the first big rally of the year led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
An anti-government protester blows a whistle before the first big rally of the year led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
