SAN ANTONIO – Spurs star Victor Wembanyama scored a career-high 50 points, including a career-high eight 3-pointers, in a 139-130 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night .
“My first thought is that eventually I want the rest of our performances, the rest of our games, to eclipse this one,” Wembanyama said. “I want to get to where in the future, [this is] one more.”
Clearly it is not.
Before Wembanyama, the last three 50-point games produced by the Spurs came in overtime. David Robinson in 1994 recorded the franchise’s most recent 50-point performance in regulation.
At 20 years and 314 days, Wembanyama is the fourth-youngest player to score 50 points. At 7 feet 4 inches, he is also the tallest to do so.
Wembanyama’s previous career-high was 40 points in a 130-126 overtime victory against the New York Knicks in March of last season.
He made his presence felt practically from the start on Wednesday, assisting or making four consecutive field goals during the first 67 seconds as San Antonio took a 13-3 lead.
“The big man, when he comes out with that mentality, it’s a tough opportunity to take,” Spurs forward Julian Champagnie said. “Big praise for him, big credit for him. He’s working on his game. I don’t know what it was that he took personally, but he took something personal and went out and pitched.”
Wembanyama inflicted most of the damage in the third quarter, shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from long range for 19 points with four rebounds, an assist and a block.
He racked up nearly half of his points that night from beyond the arc, where he was 8-of-16.
“If you looked at them, they were good shots with pace,” Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said. “The gravity it occupies, or attracts, is unique. So when you take shots away from the basket, you’re bound to attract that gravity.”
Wembanyama made 18 of 29 field goals and added 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in 32 minutes to become the first player in league history with 20 three-pointers and 13 blocks in a three-game span.
Over the course of his career, Wembanyama has recorded one 50-point game, one 5×5 game, and one 10-block game. Only three other players (Anthony Davis, Hakeem Olajuwon and Robinson) can claim those accomplishments since blocks became an official statistic in 1973-74.
It took Wembanyama 83 career games to record his first 50-point game, the fourth-fewest games needed since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77.
After finishing a quick lift in the weight room, Wembanyama came in for treatment and admitted he planned to “reflect” during the session on his latest milestone. Wembanyama also confessed to looking at the scoreboard on occasions when he was approaching 50 points.
“I love celebrating small and big victories over a certain period of time,” he said. “But tomorrow we’re already locked in with the Lakers. I’m going to give myself a little time to reflect. It’s definitely a big milestone. It’s kind of a private club. It’s definitely something I’m proud of.” “.
