It was one of the meetings to follow this night, especially if you are French, especially if you like what is young and beautiful. A duel of dunces between the Spurs and the Wizards but, above all, the first meeting in the NBA between Victor Wembanyama and Bilal Coulibaly, French cracks and former teammates with the Metropolitans.
Imagine the joy for the two friends when they exchanged jerseys at the end of the match.
Imagine their joy.
One year ago ? Victor Wembanyama was already panicking all the scouts on the planet, but Bilal Coulibaly was still struggling to make a name for himself in discussions between General Managers. A year later the two faced each other for the first time in the NBA, and if the first breaks a lot of barriers and remains in the running for the Rookie Of the Year trophy, the second does not give his share to the club and has was particularly visible last night in front of his friend.
- Victor Wembanyama: 24 points on 10/21 shots including 2/5 from the parking lot and 2/4 from the shot, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 blocks in 28 minutes
- Bilal Coulibaly: 14 points on 6/9 shots including 0/2 from the parking lot and 2/2 from the shot, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in 23 minutes
Fact: if the Spurs finally won this match and Victor Wembanyama collected very complete stats, it was Bilal Coulibaly who gave us the most smiles in this match. Yes Wemby makes any attacker retreat with his simple presence, yes Wemby validated some alley-oops and some big shots, but he also forced a lot and he lost six balls. Embarrassed for example by an inspired Deni Avdija when he defended on him, Victor did not bring out the biggest match of his season far from it, imagine the crazy of this sentence when we know that he still slammed a 24/8/6.
Wemby sinks the triple to tie it 121-121 in D.C.!
Wizards-Spurs | Live on the NBA App
???? pic.twitter.com/EfVjJztsH6
— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2024
Bilal Coulibaly waited until the second half to save us the night. After a first half in which he only crossed paths with his compatriot, Bilou gradually gained confidence and he transformed almost everything he touched into buckets. Very often at altitude, sometimes even levitating as on this counter-attack nibbled on the head of Cory Kispert or a huge rebound captured above the Spurs towers, Bilal has enjailed the US commentators and too bad if we no longer say “enjailler ” in 2024.
Former French teammates Bilal Coulibaly and Victor Wembanyama swap jerseys ???????????? pic.twitter.com/OpgjDt40vD
— NBA (@NBA) January 21, 2024
Too bad because Bilal thrills us, and he almost seems to flourish alongside Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, suffice to say that it’s as if a vegan was having fun in a horse butcher’s show. Another funny stat around this match to finish? After ten matches played, Tre Jones finally managed to beat his brother Tyus. That’s stopping you a corner, isn’t it?
2024-01-21 03:08:00
#Victor #Wembanyama #faced #Bilal #Coulibaly #crazy
