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Michael C. Wright, ESPN Staff WriterDec 25, 2024, 06:16 PM ET
- Joined ESPN in 2010
- Previously covered Bears for ESPN.com
- Played college football at West Texas A&M
NEW YORK — High on the Madison Square Garden scoreboard, a video montage played of blocked shots from New York Knicks of yesteryear as DMX’s “Party Up” blared over the public address system.
Down on the floor, though, no Knick could leap high enough Wednesday to swat a shot launched by Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 owner of a standing reach of nearly 10 feet. Making his Christmas Day debut, the Frenchman blistered the Knicks for a game-high 42 points — the most by a visitor on Christmas at Madison Square Garden — to go with 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks in a 117-114 San Antonio Spurs loss delivered through a 41-point effort from Mikal Bridges.
Wembanyama let out a deep sigh and paused for five seconds to ponder his performance in a game the Spurs had a chance to tie in the final minute.
“I don’t even know really the history of the best Christmas games,” Wembanyama said. “I’m thinking about the game right now and just thinking we were close but relaxed on some attributes at times.”
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Wembanyama became the third player in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain (1959 and 1961) and Nikola Jokic (2022) to score 40-plus points with 15-plus rebounds in a Christmas game. His 42-point performance ranks third in NBA history for a player making his Christmas Day debut behind Chamberlain (45) and Tracy McGrady (43).
“Good Lord, man,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said of Wembanyama. “He’s different. The league will be in good hands when all the old guys and elder statesmen like LeBron [James] and [Kevin Durant] are out of the [sport]. His release point is so high, and his ability to hit shots, it opens up everything for them.”
The showdown marked just the third instance of dueling 40-point performances on Christmas in NBA history. The last two took place in 1961 in games featuring Elgin Baylor against Oscar Robertson and Chamberlain taking on Richie Guerin.
Wembanyama has cobbled together four consecutive games in which he connected on at least four 3-pointers and blocked four shots. The 20-year-old is the only player to achieve those numbers in consecutive outings.
“He did a good job of imposing his will, leaving his imprint on the game,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said. “Strong catches, finishes and drives to the rim. Obviously, he made some shots, did a good job defensively. I thought we were connected as a team and sometimes that allowed his individual skill set on that end to shine through.”
Wembanyama started slowly offensively, making just 3 of 9 shots from the field in the first quarter while missing his first four attempts from 3-point range. On the defensive end, he made an immediate impact with a blocked shot three minutes into the action. In fact, the Spurs big man limited the Knicks to 3-of-13 shooting on the day as the contesting defender. Wembanyama held Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to 1-of-9 shooting from the field as the contesting defender.
“He’s utilizing his God-given traits,” Towns said. “That’s what makes him a special defensive player, as well as his ability to cover space. He’s athletic to move quick enough to get to the spots. He’s tall enough to alter shots. He’s been blessed by God and utilizing his talent for his family and the Spurs organization.”
Wembanyama didn’t catch fire offensively until the second quarter, when he racked up 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 7 rebounds and 2 made 3s on 50% shooting. By halftime, Wembanyama had tallied 24 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. It marked just the third time behind Shaquille O’Neal (2000) and Anthony Davis (2015) in the past 25 years that a player scored at least 20 points with 10 boards before halftime of a Christmas Day game.
Wembanyama drilled a game-high 6 3s. But the setback at MSG is the first time this season San Antonio lost a game in which it shot at least 40% from distance as a team.
The Knicks’ dominance on the offensive glass (17 offensive rebounds) played a role, as they outscored the Spurs in second-chance points 19-13, while besting them 58-50 in paint scoring.
“I don’t think it was a game about momentum. I think it was a game about being dogs,” Wembanyama said. “When the clock starts going down — five minutes, three minutes — we let them get some rebounds on us. We let them move us a little too much. This is what it was about. They didn’t win against us because they played better basketball. Not at all. Tonight, just proved we are not ready yet. We are right there. It’s just a [switch] we’ve got to [flip] because I’m sure we’re going to see that it works and we’re going to get addicted to playing this way. It’s high effort to play like that, but also high reward.”
Before every outing, when the clock shows the contest is 60 minutes away from tipoff, the Spurs like to play a quick game of trivia featuring various basketball-related topics. Christmas Day scoring was the topic ahead of the matchup against the Knicks, according to point guard Chris Paul, who finished with seven assists to move into seventh place on the all-time list for assists on Christmas.
“We all try to guess,” Paul said. “I think [McGrady] was on there, Luka [Doncic]. Vic had 42, so now he’s on that list, you know what I mean? We see him day in and day out. So, we’re not surprised by that. For us, the next step is winning those games. That’s all it’s about.”
