Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and took 10 rebounds on Tuesday night, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Sacramento Kings 130-103 at the Frost Bank Center. It was the first home win of the season for San Antonio.
Oklahoma City and Houston had both won in San Antonio earlier this month. This one was over by half-time.
Nine dunks for Wembanyama
The French center made 14 of his 21 shots. Nine of them were dunks, which matches the most he has ever had in one game.
He set the tone early. Wembanyama made 7 of 10 shots in the first quarter for 15 points. Four of those baskets were dunks. Sacramento had no answer near the rim.
San Antonio scored 39 points in the first quarter and led 80-54 at the break. Both numbers were the team’s best of the season so far.
Champagnie could not miss
Wembanyama got the dunks, but Julian Champagnie had the wildest night. The forward scored 26 points and hit 8 of his 13 three-pointers. All eight came before half-time.
Devin Vassell made his first three shots from deep in the opening five minutes and finished 4-for-7. Dylan Harper added 13 points and six assists.
As a team, the Spurs made 17 of 37 threes. Their previous best this season was 15, in the win over Dallas on 24 October. All five starters reached double figures.
Kings still waiting for a win
Sacramento are now 0-4. Domantas Sabonis did his part with 20 points and 14 rebounds. De’Andre Hunter scored 24 and Zach LaVine 22, but the Kings were too far behind after two quarters to make a game of it.
San Antonio move to 2-2 and have now won two in a row. They play at Utah on Wednesday. The Kings travel to New Orleans on Thursday.
Our take
A 2-2 start is not a reason to panic or to celebrate. Still, this was the kind of night Spurs fans have been waiting for. Wembanyama waited for the guards to find him, and when they did, he finished almost everything close to the basket.
The bigger story might be the shooting around him. If Champagnie and Vassell keep hitting threes like this, defences cannot crowd Wembanyama, and that makes San Antonio very hard to stop.
For Sacramento, the worry is the defence. Giving up 80 points in one half is a problem that good numbers from Sabonis cannot fix.
Can the Spurs turn this win into a real run, or was Tuesday a one-off against a struggling team? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Victor Wembanyama by Frenchieinportland (CC BY 4.0), Victor Wembanyama by Daiei Onoguchi (CC BY 4.0), Victor Wembanyama by Pierre.berendes (CC BY-SA 4.0), Dylan Harper by Petsbikes (CC BY-SA 4.0), Victor Wembanyama by Thomas S (CC BY-SA 2.0).