The clobbering that Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jared McCain took in the final minutes of Tuesday’s Game 5 of the Western Conference finals trickled down from a demand by Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, according to a new video.
The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama whispered “hard foul” to teammates Bismack Biyombo and Mason Plumlee as he exited the game with his team trailing by 14 with 2:20 remaining, Mike Tirico, NBC’s play-by-play announcer, said on the Game 6 broadcast Thursday night.
The new clip of Wembanyama from Game 5 surfaced during Game 6, with Wembanyama seeming to mouth “hard foul” to Plumlee.
“Hard foul was the message to sent to Mason Plumee, Bismack Biyomobo, and you saw just that…” Tirico said during the Spurs’ eventual 118-91 win.
After Wembanyama’s exit, Plumblee and Byombo committed hard fouls on McCain within a minute span.
The first foul happened when McCain received an elbow to the back from Plumlee that knocked him to the floor, and the foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 after a league review, the NBA announced Wednesday.
Biyombo committed the second foul as McCain drove to the basket.
NBC Analyst Reggie Miller mentioned that McCain shouldn’t have been in the game in garbage minutes after the two fouls.
“See, these are two shots to McCain in here in the starting lineup in the closing moments of this game,” Miller said. “He doesn’t need to be on the floor here.”
McCain discussed Plumlee’s foul after the Thunder’s 127-114 victory in Game 5.
“That was crazy. I didn’t expect it, obviously,” McCain told “The Association” on Tuesday. “We were at the free-throw line, too, and I was like, ‘Why’d you do that man?’
“I’m just asking him questions, and he was like, ‘I’ve got another one for you, too.’ … It’s all in competition, so gotta respect it.”
In his first start of the series in Game 5, McCain scored 20 points while shooting 7-of-19 from the field. He also grabbed three rebounds.
The Spurs forced a Game 7 on Saturday in Oklahoma City with their resounding win Thursday, and the winner will face the Knicks in the 2026 NBA Finals, beginning June 3.
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