Coming into the playoffs, Luke Kornet was considered one of, if not the top backup center in the NBA. He’d already won a championship backing up Kristaps Porzingis in Boston two years ago and seems primed to do it again backing up Victor Wembanyama. He was great all season, helping the Spurs thrive when Wemby missed 12 games early in the season with a calf strain and a few more here and there throughout the regular season.
Then the playoffs came, Kornet’s minutes dropped as Wemby’s rose, and outside
of admirably filling in at starting center when a concussed Wemby missed Game 3 against the Trail Blazers in Round 1, he has seemed less productive compared to the regular season. But is that actually true, or is it as simple as Wemby has just been so good (for the most part, a “poor” game from him in these playoffs has been what we would have considered average in the regular season) that a drop-off when he leaves the court is inevitable, making Kornet look like less than he was?
Kornet is a funny, nerdy dude who has helped bring a lightheartedness to the locker room while the young team navigates immense pressure that just keeps building the further they go in the playoffs, while also being one of the few veterans with playoff and championship experience. However, because of the Spurs struggles with Wemby off the court, especially in the Western Conference Finals, Kornet has become a bit maligned, even though he was far from the only bench player to not be at his best in this series.
But then, in one fell swoop, it all changed. The Spurs were holding on to a precarious 97-91 lead with under seven minutes to go in Game 7 in Oklahoma City with the Finals on the line — a game in which they had led most of the way and staved off a few runs already but had to assume one last ditch effort was coming from the defending champions — and it looked like that Thunder run may have been coming when Wemby had to sit after picking up his 5th foul.
Isaiah Hartenstein, who had been a thorn in the Spurs’ side all series, jumped in front of a Dylan Harper pass to Kornet and started heading the other direction. It didn’t seem like a Spur would catch up to him, especially with Cason Wallace running with him to box out any chasers, but as he went up for the dunk, in swooped Kornet from behind to pin the dunk off the glass, even as Hartenstein used an off arm to attempt to stave him off. The Spurs got the rebound, and a Stephon Castle jumper on the other other end completed the four-point swing, turning what could have been a precarious 4-point lead back into an 8-point lead while sucking the life out of the arena.
In a series that has been all about the stars (and surviving without them), the maligned Kornet ended up with arguably the biggest play of the series. Wemby would soon return to help finish the Thunder off, but that one play epitomized what Kornet has been to the Spurs all season: reliable and ready when called upon. It usurped his game-winning block in Orlando — complete with hilarious pose — as his best play of the season, and depending on what the Spurs do in the Finals, could go down in Spurs lore as one of their top blocks, let a lone plays, among many in franchise history. (I hate to bring up the comparison, but it kind of reminded me of Kawhi Leonard’s chase-down block of Russell Westbrook in part of a series of plays to clinch the Western Conference Finals in 2014 in none other than OKC.)
During and after the game, Kornet’s teammates were in awe and thrilled for him. “I was so stoked. I was so proud of him, so happy,” Wembanyama told reporters after the game. “That is the definition of a winning play. It’s whoever wanted it more.” In that moment, Kornet wanted it more than anyone. It was redemption following what many saw as a rough series from him (but again, it seemed like he was more a scapegoat for the entire bench’s struggles, as well as a bit of a victim of Wemby’s greatness).
Of course, Kornet wasn’t the only bench player to get some redemption last night, as Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson scored 9 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter around the same time to help counter four three-pointers from Wallace. And let’s not forget De’Aaron Fox, who missed both of the first two games and struggled at times with a high angle sprain, having a big game last night as well.
Overall, Game 7 felt was The Redemption Game. It was redemption for all the franchise has been through since 2018, for the rebuild, for general manager Brian Wright, and for a fan base that has been waiting to feel this level of elation again. But of all the redemption to go around from last night, Kornet’s will be remembered the most.
