Cousins blamed – DeMarcus Cousins said Chet Holmgren is responsible for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 1 Western Conference Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs, after Victor Wembanyama’s 41-point, 24-rebound performance in a 122-115 double-overtime thriller.
Oklahoma City had one more chance, then another. By the time the double-overtime finally ended, the San Antonio Spurs were still standing—122-115 over the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals—setting the tone for what looks like a series that could be decided one stop at a time.
Victor Wembanyama turned it into his own highlight reel. In his first conference finals appearance. the 7-foot-4 French star finished with 41 points and 24 rebounds. then delivered the kind of end-of-game moments that erase doubt before it can form. Down the stretch. he hit a game-tying 3-pointer with the Spurs still alive. followed it with a poster dunk on Chet Holmgren. and capped the night with a game-sealing block on Jalen Williams.
Holmgren, meanwhile, was left trying to survive the matchup. Through 41 minutes, he finished with just eight points and eight rebounds. And Cousins pointed to what he believed was the biggest problem: responsibility, especially late.
After the loss, the retired NBA veteran DeMarcus Cousins placed the blame on Holmgren. “I put this on Chet. You have to step up and accept that challenge. That’s his matchup,” Cousins said. “You have to accept that challenge and be the game changer defensively [on Wembanyama]. And the reason I’m saying that is because he does have the ability to do so.”.
Cousins didn’t stop there. “He tucked his tail. Like I said, he’s way too good for that,” he continued. “I put this on him.”
The criticism carried extra weight because of how the matchup was described down the stretch. The Thunder, according to the account from the game, didn’t even guard Wembanyama with Holmgren late, leaving that responsibility to 6-foot-5 guard Alex Caruso.
There are plenty of ways to explain how a team gets beat in a playoff spotlight. But when Cousins talks about “his matchup,” he’s talking about the one thing fans usually feel most clearly—who was supposed to be there, and whether they were.
Wembanyama’s defensive credentials only deepen the contrast. He was named the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in 2025-26, while Holmgren finished second in voting.
Game 1 ended with the Spurs taking the lead, and Game 2 is already scheduled to tip at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday—right where this series will either harden into a pattern or force the Thunder to answer back the way Cousins thinks Holmgren can.
DeMarcus Cousins Chet Holmgren Victor Wembanyama Spurs Thunder Western Conference Finals Game 1 double overtime Alex Caruso Jalen Williams Shai Gilgeous-Alexander