Between the legs, behind the back, quarterback style or even blind: Victor Wembanyama dazzled with the quality of his passes, on the night from Wednesday to Thursday during the victory of the San Antonio Spurs in Detroit (130 -108). Finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, the Frenchman achieved the first triple double of his career (10 or more in these three categories). By doing all this in just 21 minutes of play, he even became the second player in NBA history to accomplish it so quickly! He is only ahead of the exercise specialist, Russell Westbrook (20 minutes in 2014). He is also the 5th youngest player in history (20 years and 6 days) to achieve a triple double.
“I didn’t know I was second so fast, but it matters to me,” he reacted after the match. I’m not the type to talk for nothing. This is the kind of statement we want to make as a team, and me as a player. » A few days ago, after the narrow defeat against Milwaukee, he announced the color: he will approach every match, from now on, to show everyone who he is.
Victor Wembanyama put on a show and recorded his first-career triple-double on way to a Spurs W ????????
16 PTS / 12 REB/ 10 AST
Wemby (21 MIN) is the second player in NBA history to record a triple-double while playing less than 22 MIN. pic.twitter.com/eIsUHo3fNn
— NBA (@NBA) January 11, 2024
He also explains how he found himself accumulating so many passes: “This time, there was no reason to physically challenge defenders who were just waiting for that,” he explains. My teammates made the right calls and made their shots. We made the right choices collectively. It’s beautiful when you manage to play together, as a team, like we did. Tomorrow, maybe someone else will achieve a triple double. » The Spurs above all organized their game, particularly offensively, around their Frenchman.
“Victor is starting to understand…”
“Victor is starting to understand his teammates, how he can help them, and where to position himself on the floor depending on who is playing around him,” explains Texan coach Gregg Popovich. This time, we deliberately tried to organize our offensive game around him. » The meeting, led from start to finish by the Spurs against the worst team in the League, Detroit, constituted a passing recital for Wemby, more accustomed to shining with his blocks or his dunks, and who appeared with… a header of Alien – his nickname – drawn on his shoes.
At the start of the match, we believe he is on an American football field, sending the ball with one hand like a laser to the other end of the field for Sochan. 20 yards (around 18 meters), have fun counting the specialists on social networks as they would have done for football. The two teammates mimic the twins’ gesture, as if to say that they are capable of finding each other from afar. At the end of the first quarter, Victor Wembanyama has only played 6 minutes but he is already at 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. We understand that something is happening.
His favorite pass? Between the legs !
At the start of the second half, he passed the ball between Bogdanovic’s legs to his teammate Champagnie. “It was my favorite of the evening,” Wemby said afterwards. Then he finds Sochan, him again, with an offering on his back. The last quarter, where the score appears to have been played, is intended to allow him to reach his first triple double. His teammates are shooting all over the place and it only takes them four minutes to convert their shots. At the end of the match, Victor Wembanyama takes the orange ball with him, an NBA tradition for firsts or notable performances. “Secured,” he wrote on Instagram from the locker room a few minutes after the end of the match, the ball in hands. In the locker room, he is celebrated by the whole group.
Another aspect of his performance is notable: he did not lose a single ball, usually one of his guilty pleasures. But he also made… no counterattacks, his specialty. A little earlier in the day, the NBA had placed him at the head of the race for Rookie of the Year, the best young player of the season. The perfect day!
Opposite, another Frenchman shone with his passes: Killian Hayes reached the figure of 12, but the rest of his performance was more mixed (4 points and 4 rebounds in 31 minutes). While Detroit hits rock bottom, totaling only 3 victories this season, the San Antonio Spurs are raising their heads. Their 6th victory certainly leaves them at the bottom of the ranking, but there has been improvement in three games. They receive Charlotte on Friday evening to confirm this renewal. “I feel good, we are evaluating my state of form day by day and the restrictions on my playing time could just as easily be lifted from one minute to the next,” assumes Victor Wembanyama, who assures that he no longer feels any pain following his ankle sprain. I hope that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we can ease or completely remove these restrictions. » For, logically, even more points, rebounds and assists…
