In the American Airlines Center, Victor Wembanyama, along with Julian Champagnie, contemplated his work. His verdict: “That was niiiice”.Minutes earlier, the Frenchman had executed a fake that lifted P.J. Washington, and then, with a dribble, launched a reverse dunk that shook the hoop, unleashing euphoria on the San Antonio Spurs bench. In a crushing 125-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama demonstrated the physical and mental transformation he experienced during the summer.
The blocks, the dunks, the shots, the refined footwork and the post moves, not to mention the intuition to know how to deploy them, contrasted with the fact that Wembanyama hadn’t played an NBA game in 8 months and 11 days before the victory against the Mavericks. The lack of rhythm was non-existent, as Wembanyama dominated, becoming the first player since 1977-78 to score 40 points with 15 rebounds, 3 blocks and 0 turnovers, with 70% field goal efficiency.Wembanyama’s 40 points are the most for a player in a season-opening game in the history of the San Antonio franchise.[I was] much more in control of myself. The mind, I don’t worry because I saw what it’s like to face the possibility of losing a lot, whether it’s your career or your health. So I no longer take this for granted. The body? I have more fun now that it doesn’t cost me so much to move. I know that I still need to improve, and I’m still going to improve.
Victor Wembanyama
Dallas started the game with its starting lineup, with Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II dominating the paint. Wembanyama outshone that group, scoring 4 of 5 shots for 11 points with a block in the first quarter. Faking a pass to Harrison Barnes, Wembanyama froze Cooper Flagg, the first draft pick, enough to gain a step on the rookie and perform a spectacular dunk. Shortly after, Wembanyama assisted Dylan Harper, the second pick, on his first career assist.Harper immediately returned the ball to Wembanyama in a give-and-go for a two-handed dunk over Lively.He’s been out for eight months. You saw him take the moment and play spectacularly. But honestly, the most impressive thing [is] zero turnovers. The number of fundamentally solid plays he made tonight was impressive.
Mitch Johnson, Spurs Coach
Now it’s difficult, as Wembanyama’s teammates have found ways to give him high-probability shots. With 8:28 remaining before halftime, second-year guard Stephon Castle threw an alley-oop in transition to Wembanyama, who escaped Dwight Powell, for a reverse dunk. It’s clear that last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year spent the preseason working with Wembanyama on their chemistry.Castle and Wembanyama scored or assisted on 42 of San Antonio’s 60 points in the first half, as the Spurs led by nine at halftime.The guy is 7-3. I think some of the calls were a little questionable. But when he’s 7-3 and standing in front of you, nobody’s going to block a shot. He’s shooting over the top. At that point, you’re just praying he misses.
Anthony Davis
Wembanyama perhaps had his most impressive play of the night during a 10-point burst in the third quarter, in which he made 3 of 4 shots with 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Wembanyama blocked a shot by Lively at the rim that Castle quickly connected to start a fast break. The guard immediately returned the ball to Wembanyama, who faked inside before scoring a three-pointer backwards while Lively committed a foul.Wembanyama completed the four-point play to increase San Antonio’s lead to 14 points.[It’s] a lot of repetitions, a lot of watching videos together. I feel like that helps and it’s overlooked a lot. Being able to watch videos with a guy you’re going to do a lot of pick-and-rolls with and have a lot of points in transition definitely helped. Being able to know where he likes the ball with a double team, where they’re going to come from. Man, we’ve been working on that all summer, and it’s starting to take shape.
Stephon Castle
Johnson replaced Wembanyama shortly after he connected on a 13-foot shot that put the Spurs up by 30. At that moment, Wembanyama admitted, he began to reflect on his summer of transformation and the long journey initiated in February by a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis.It’s incredible. He’s a different player. You can’t know what he’s like until you’re on the court with him. It’s something I’ve never seen before. He was great tonight, but we have to do a better job trying to take away some of his shots, and we can’t foul him as much as we did.
Cooper Flagg
