The San Antonio Spurs defeated the New York Knicks in overtime on Friday, thanks in large part to Victor Wembanyama, who scored 40 points and pulled down 20 rebounds.
Jalen Brunson of New York scored 61 points in the second half, but his team could not hold on.
French sensation Wembanyama became the first rookie to achieve 40 points and 20 rebounds since Shaquille O’Neal in 1993. The 20-year-old finished with seven assists, two steals, and a block.
“I’ve never seen so much greatness,” Wembanyama remarked. The season is almost over in terms of months. I want to contribute to the quality that I have seen. I’ve always wanted to compete with them, even though I’m discovering that I can. Not quite there, but on the right course. I’ll be there soon; I know about that.
Unfortunately, Brunson was unable to beat the Knicks’ 2014 franchise record of 62 points set by Carmelo Anthony.
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Brunson, who has scored the fifth-most points this season, missed the game-winning three-pointer with 5.4 seconds left in overtime.
“It’s great, but it’s washed out the window with the loss,” Brunson said. “So, it is irrelevant.”
For the first time this season, the Spurs won their third straight game after dominating the majority of the game and scoring 74 points in the first half.
“He’s pretty special,” our coach Gregg Popovich said of Wembanyama, adding that the Spurs’ maturity this year was demonstrated by their resilience against a late charge from the Knicks and an “amazing” Brunson.
“Every team blows leads,” Popovich remarked. Your ability to recover is crucial because, without it, we would not have been able to maintain our execution and tempo earlier in the year. It’s clear that they’ve grown over the course of the course of the season.
“They stayed strong when New York made a heck of a run.”
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