“Perfect” night for Wembanyama
It seemed fitting that on a night when the NBA All-Star Starters are revealed, Wembanyama put in a shift worthy of deserving of such an accolade.
Tonight was the fourth time that Wembanyama finished a game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks putting him in the company of other NBA giants, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
While the Frenchman batted questions of the impending announcement aside, others didn’t hold back in their praise of the star for tonight’s performance.
“This is one of the best, complete games I’ve seen him play all season long,” teammate, and two-time Olympic champion, Chris Paul said after the game.
“With the expectations being home in front of all his family and friends, in front of all you guys, some guys could get lost in the game, and start maybe doing too much, but I think he played a great game on both ends of the court.”
“It must be so difficult for someone with the skill set that he has, and how unique he is too, to dominate the fundamentals,” acting head coach Mitch Johnson said.
“He’s capable of spectacular, but when he does just dominate the little things in the fundamentals of the game, it’s absolutely spectacular. And when he embraces that, it is a scary stretch at times and he did that for a minute tonight.”
Wembanyama was, however, happy to talk about what the occasion meant to him personally.
“It was the perfect evening,” he said and admitted that the night was in the “top five” of his performances in the league so far. The next challenge, he pointed to, was to go back-to-back.
For the Pacers, the night left a lot to be desired. “We didn’t fight at all. It was too easy for them,“ Pascal Siakam, who finished on 18 points, said after.
Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 24 points with Myles Turner scoring 14 and Tyrese Haliburton and Obi Toppin finishing with 13.
But it was on defence that the Pacers truly struggled.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever given up that many points in a quarter,” Carlisle said of the 45-point barrage. “It’s alarming and you’ve got to give the Spurs a lot of credit, they played at a high level, led by Victor was sensational… We’ve just got to be much better.”
Both teams will have the chance to go again in Paris with a second regular season game on Saturday (26 January).
