San Antonio closed out the series with Minnesota the way you close series when one team has Victor Wembanyama and the other only has Anthony Edwards with a finger on the trigger. 139:109 in game six, and the Spurs are heading into the Western Conference finals for the first time in nine years.

The numbers are wild - Stephon Castle finished with 30 points and 11 assists, Wembanyama posted 19 points with presence at both rims, and De'Aaron Fox added 21 points. The Spurs controlled the game from the second quarter and led by 37 points at one moment in the third. That isn't a win anymore - that's a statement to the rest of the playoffs.

Minnesota had no answer. Anthony Edwards finished with 24 points, but shot 9 of 26 - dreadful for the lead figure in an elimination game. Julius Randle was a disaster - three turnovers in 24 minutes of play, in a game where his team needed him to carry. When your two main playoff figures crack on an elimination night, no coach's strategy can save the day.

The Western finals now bring the series San Antonio - Oklahoma City. A young French centre against the reigning champion. Balkan fans will watch every game - not just because of Wembanyama, but for the feeling that the NBA finally has a new intergenerational duel that isn't settled in the first two games.

The Spurs hadn't been in the Western finals since 2017. Back then it was a team built on Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan. Now it's a new franchise, a new centre, a new generation - but the same organisation that knows how playoff basketball is played. How long did it take the most professional franchise in the league to come back to where it belongs?