San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama launched a career-high 34 shots for a season-high 43 points Saturday to propel the Spurs to a 121-111 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“When he plays with his teammates, it really causes a problem for the other team, whether that’s spacing, handling the basketball, playing two-man game or three-man game,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “The best players in this league, when they play with their teammates, it’s damn near impossible at times [to stop]. You’ve got to just choose how they beat you. He’s made some fine improvement in a short amount of time.”
Wembanyama’s performance marked the first time the Spurs emerged victorious on a night the Frenchman finished with 30 attempts or more. The 22-year-old also contributed five blocks to become the first Spur since David Robinson (1996) to rack up at least 40 points and five blocks in a game, and the first player since Joel Embiid (2022) to accomplish the feat.
San Antonio fell short the two previous times Wembanyamahoisted 30 shots or more. He attempted 31 shots on Christmas Day of his second NBA season (2024) to finish with 42 points in a 117-114 loss to the New York Knicks. Four days later, Wembanyama finished with 30 attempts in a 112-110 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Wembanyama’s shot diet looked different, too. He nailed a corner 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining for his final bucket to extend San Antonio’s lead to 118-107. Wembanyama would fire up eight 3-pointers on the night, knocking down three of them.
But 12 of Wembanyama’s 14 other baskets came from distances of two feet or fewer, including four alley-oops and four dunks. Wembanyama mentioned after struggling in San Antonio’s season-opening loss to Oklahoma City that he needed “to go back to playing the basketball I like.”
“It’s like pattern recognition,” he explained. “The brain, after so many games, literally hundreds of games now in the NBA, knows what kind of game to go towards to have fun. Because whenever we don’t score, it’s like negative feedback. Whenever we score, we get good results, positive feedback for the brain. Over time, you recognize patterns, and you err towards those patterns. There’s always ups and downs, but we’re turning in the right direction.”
