Wemby’s poster jam and 42-point performance gives Spurs the OT win

SAN ANTONIO – Finger by finger, Devin Vassell counted the “wow” moments Victor Wembanyama scored during his 42-point gem Thursday night that led the San Antonio Spurs to a 133-126 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks .

“The pass to Jeremy (Sochan), I sat there and said, ‘There’s no way.’ Way,” Vassell said with a laugh. “Then he obviously throws it off the glass (to himself). Are we playing in our backyard or are we playing in the NBA?”

Regardless of the venue, Wembanyama’s performance proved almost otherworldly. He became the first NBA player to make seven 3-pointers and totaled 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks in the same game. The 20-year-old joins Joel Embiid (November 2022) and Karl-Anthony Towns (December 2018) as the only players this century to record 60 points, 10 assists and 10 blocks in two games.

Wembanyama capped the latest milestone in dramatic fashion against the Hawks, scoring eight of San Antonio’s 13 points in overtime, shooting 3 of 4 from the field and making both 3-point attempts. Wembanyama’s 29-foot shot off an assist from Chris Paul 1:52 into overtime gave San Antonio the lead for good.

Wembanyama is tied with Hall of Fame point guard Tony Parker for the eighth-most 40-point games in franchise history (3).

“I thought he imposed his will in a positive way tonight,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “You can see it physically, just from his sheer size, when he’s demonstrative, plays with conviction, where he puts the ball where he wants to go and nothing will stop him.”

Atlanta certainly struggled to accomplish that in the first half, where Wembanyama scored 24 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including 4 of 6 from distance, with three blocks. Thursday night’s game marked the first time all season that every player on San Antonio’s roster was healthy and ready to play.

The Spurs took advantage and moved Vassell into the starting lineup for the first time this season while moving rookie Stephon Castle into a reserve role. Vassell scored 23 points while going 5 of 7 from 3-point range, with four assists and two steals, as San Antonio scored a season-high 35 points to Atlanta’s 23 turnovers.

“It felt like a big relief,” Wembanyama said of Spurs finally playing with a healthy squad. “I think some of my teammates were questionable before the game. So we thought, ‘Is it finally here?'”

Yes, that was it. But it was also Wembanyama’s night.

Over a three-minute, four-second period in the fourth quarter, Wembanyama served as the catalyst for 11 straight points, scoring nine points alone in a variety of means – from the mid-post, near the bucket and to the three-point line – before the explosion ended with an alley-oop to Sochan, who put it in with his back to the basket.

One possession earlier, Wembanyama stumbled down the lane as time expired while Clint Capela was defending and teammate Julian Champagnie was under the basket. Wembanyama threw an alley-oop of his own off the backboard for a two-handed poster jam that left his teammates in awe long after the final buzzer.

“Sometimes you just feel it,” Wembanyama said of the freelance nature of the piece. “I think the way we read their coverage was good, and the good spacing to leave space on the isos (was good). I think it was a combination of several things. There’s not one answer, but the fact that we’ve adapted to different ways of defending (teams play), that’s what I’m talking about.”

Paul, on the other hand, finished the game with 12 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals and scored his first basket of the night in the third quarter. Paul’s jump shot early in that frame was his first made field goal since the first quarter of Friday’s win at Portland.

Paul shot 4 of 4 against Atlanta, including a 25-foot pull-up shot to ice the game with 19.5 seconds left. It was Paul’s fourth career game with more than 10 points on 100% shooting from the field.

Nevertheless, Paul could only talk about Wembanyama afterwards.

“That was wild,” Paul said, remembering Wembanyama’s alley-oop. “We were just talking about it in the locker room. I saw Julian make the cut and I thought he would pass it on to him straight away. When I saw him take it off the board I thought, ‘Damn, what is Vic doing?’ ?’ I’m telling you, almost every night he does something that makes you say, ‘Damn, that’s why they talk about him all the time.'”