Victor Wembanyama almost set a new record for the Spurs on Christmas Day during his first-ever Christmas game.cHe came close to winning too.
His 42 points and 18 rebounds helped the San Antonio Spurs stay in the game, but they fell short as the New York Knicks won 117-114 on Wednesday.
After the game, Wembanyama, who had one of the best Christmas debuts in NBA history, said, “I’m thinking about the game right now,” before adding, “we were close but we lack some attributes at times.”
He stared at the box score, clearly impressed with his performance. In addition to the 42 points and 18 rebounds, he had six 3-pointers, four blocked shots, and four assists.
Only Wilt Chamberlain (45 points in 1959) and Tracy McGrady (43 in 2000) scored more points in their first Christmas game than Wembanyama. LaMarcus Aldridge had the highest point total for the Spurs on Christmas Day with 33 in 2016.
“Us that see him day in and day out, we’re not surprised by that,” said Spurs veteran Chris Paul. “I think, for us, the next step is winning those games.”
Wembanyama also came close to breaking the Spurs’ record for rebounds on Christmas. David Robinson holds that record with 19 rebounds in 1999.
In the final minute, Wembanyama had a couple of chances to grab rebounds from missed shots by the Knicks, but Josh Hart collected both, allowing the Knicks to run out the clock.
Wembanyama said, “It sure feels like you can’t do anything about it, but this is why you have to do everything you can before when you can.”
The Spurs played on Christmas Day mainly because of Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 rookie from France, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft and won Rookie of the Year honors. He was also named Western Conference Player of the Week last week after averaging 32.7 points and 7.3 blocks in his previous three games.
Wembanyama leads the NBA in blocks and has been shooting more 3-pointers than ever, hitting six on Wednesday, bringing his total to 23 in his last four games.
“He’s taking a lot of long 3s. He took a lot of 3s. He’s a different Wemby than what I remember the rookie year,” said Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns.
When asked how to defend a player like Wembanyama, Towns said, “If the physicality is allowed, I think it’s possible you can do more stuff. Also, if someone just finds the potion somewhere to be 7-5, 7-6, then we (would) be solid.”
Wembanyama and Knicks guard Mikal Bridges, who scored a season-high 41 points, became the first pair of opposing players to score 40 or more points on Christmas since 1961, when Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson did it.
As long as Wembanyama is on the team, the Spurs will likely get more chances to play on Christmas Day.
Wembanyama said, “Tonight just proved that we’re not ready yet,” but he was positive about the way the Spurs played and predicted they would get used to playing that way.
“This is how I see it, because it’s high effort to play like that but it’s also high rewards.”
