Trailing by 23 points, the Spurs put in a great performance on the night from Friday to Saturday by overthrowing Denver, the reigning champion, with Victor Wembanyama once again imperial for the penultimate day of the NBA regular season.
“Victor is Victor.” This formula from his trainer Gregg Popovich sums up Victor Wembanyama’s new XXL performance. From the height of his 2.24m, the French rookie once again loomed over the match against San Antonio, bottom of the Western Conference, who snatched victory in the last second from the Denver Nuggets, leaders before the match, 121 to 120, Friday.
For this penultimate game of the regular season, Wemby scored 34 points (including 17 in less than three minutes), took 12 rebounds, delivered 5 assists and made 2 blocks within a team that managed to make up 23 points behind, which she counted at the start of the third quarter, to blow the victory away from the Nuggets by a point thanks to a basket from Devonte’ Graham… less than a second from the buzzer!
“Victor did a lot of good things, but he couldn’t have done it without his teammates,” Popovich added, not wanting to give him all the coverage. Wemby’s evening was also marked by a slight clash with Aaron Gordon just before the break.
Despite Jamal Murray’s 35 points, the Nuggets for their part gave up the No. 1 place in the Western Conference to the Oklahoma City Thunder, clear winner of the Milwaukee Bucks (125-107). The Minnesota Timberwolves, who beat the Atlanta Hawks by a short head (109-106), also passed them in front. Nikola Jokic’s teammates, now third in the Western Conference, were already assured of a place in the play-offs before the match.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, by beating the Indiana Pacers (129-120), are assured of retaining their 4th place in the Eastern Conference and going directly to the play-offs. They can even go for 3rd place, which the Knicks occupy after their success over the Nets (111-107) in the New York derby. Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points for the Cavs, who scored 70 points in the first half alone.
Embiid’s winning return
The Philadelphia 76ers signed Joel Embiid with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists, a valuable victory against the Orlando Magic (125-113) which allows them to stay in the race for a direct place in the play-offs. The 76ers, to whom the return at the beginning of April of their star and MVP Joel Embiid after two months of absence and a knee operation in February, did a lot of good, are with seven victories in a row.
In the Eastern Conference, nothing is decided for the 5th and 6th places, the last two directly qualifying for the play-offs. Four franchises can still get them: Orlando, Indiana and Philadelphia (all three 46 wins and 35 losses) and Miami (45 wins and 36 losses). The New Orleans Pelicans (6th) and the Phoenix Suns (7th) are competing for sixth place, the last place directly qualifying for the play-offs, in the Western Conference.
Both franchises won away on Friday, the Pelicans at the Golden State Warriors (114-109) and the Suns at Sacramento (108-107). New Orleans won thanks to a stratospheric second quarter (45-22), the Suns reversing the situation in the last quarter (30-22).
2024-04-14 01:47:07
#Wembanyama #festival #Spurs #win #reigning #champions
