OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — For the 160th time in NBA history and fifth time this season alone, a Game 7 awaits on Saturday night.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder will be taking on the San Antonio Spurs to decide the Western Conference title, after a back-and-forth series that has seen both teams leading at various points.
The winner will take on the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, starting Wednesday. Game 1 will be in either Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
Game 7s, Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, are the things “dreams” are made of. But at least one of the Spurs said he had a little trouble getting to dreamland on Friday night; Devin Vassell revealed that he tossed and turned for at least a half-hour after trying to go to sleep.
“I’m more excited than anything," Vassell said at the Spurs' Saturday morning shootaround. "I think that we have a chance to do something special.”
The Thunder won a pair of Game 7s last season at home, including the one that delivered the NBA championship over the Indiana Pacers. But guard Alex Caruso warned that having Game 7 experience isn't a reason to relax.
“Maybe just being here before, you have comfortability,” Caruso said. “But at the same time, you don't want to be comfortable in a Game 7. If you're comfortable, you're probably not edgy enough. You probably don't have a high enough sense of urgency. ... You definitely don't want to be comfortable.”
Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell will not play for the Thunder in Game 7 against the Spurs because of injuries that have dogged both throughout the series.
Williams has been dealing with a strained left hamstring for much of the playoffs. Mitchell has a strained right soleus.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives against San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) in the second half of Game 6 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series, Thursday, May 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama (1) speaks with Stephon Castle (5) on the bench in the second half of Game 6 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series, Thursday, May 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military stopped a merchant vessel trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room, the U.S. Central Command said on Saturday.
The Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from U.S. forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. The ship remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman and U.S. forces have not boarded it, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
With the latest action, U.S. military has stopped six ships trying to breach the blockade. One was allowed to proceed. Another 116 ships have been redirected, the military said.
The U.S. launched the blockade on April 17 in response to Iran effectively closing the strait after the war in the Middle East began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. A fragile ceasefire has held since April 7. Now the region awaits word on whether a deal can be reached to extend it by 60 days while talks would be held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Events in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between Iran and Oman, have shaken the global economy. Shipments of significant amounts of oil, natural gas and related supplies like fertilizer are largely stranded, increasing the strain on consumers and food producers.
The U.S. blockade seeks to limit Iran’s own shipments and further weaken its access to cash, creating more pain for its long-weakened economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump met with advisers on Friday but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. Iran has said the deal had not been finalized.
Commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow through the strait, despite Iran's assertions that it must approve any transits, though at a much lower volume than before the war.
“Any violation of these regulations will place the security of their passage at serious risk,” Iran's joint military command said Saturday in a statement carried by state TV, warning that any military vessels trying to interfere with that would be targeted.
Iran has even charged tolls for transit as high as $2 million, which experts have called a violation of a principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation.
Qatar's deputy prime minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, said on Saturday said that the Gulf nation opposes charging fees to transit, “but for certain times when they say they are going to use it for mine clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable, and it could be something that will help the transit of the Strait of Hormuz to be back to normal stage.”
The U.S. official previously told The Associated Press that the U.S. has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait.
Pro-government Iranian demonstrators wave Iranian flags and a portrait of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, and his slain father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a gathering at a square in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
