Wembanyama, Vassell Both Drop 28, Spurs End Thunder’s Six-Game Win Streak
While no one may have expected this one to be such a close game given the fact that the Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best teams in the league and the San Antonio Spurs are one of the worst, the Spurs can still be a problem for teams when they come ready to play and they came ready to play tonight. While the Spurs may not be too happy with their season thus far, their center Victor Wembanyama, the number one pick from the 2023 NBA draft, is putting up insane rookie numbers of nearly 21 points, 10 rebounds, and over three blocks a night. He will almost without a doubt be this year’s Rookie of the Year and has established himself as one of the best rim protectors in the NBA giving him a spot in this league for years to come. Let’s take a look at how San Antonio got this win.
The Spurs and Thunder would begin this game with both sides showing they have no problem scoring points on the offensive end of the floor as the game was all tied up at 37-37 at the end of the first quarter. The Spurs were led by shooting guard Devin Vassell who scored 11 points in the first quarter on seven shot attempts and the Thunder were led in the first quarter by power forward Chet Holmgren who scored 10 points on four shot attempts. In the second quarter, the Spurs would outscore the Thunder 32-27 to head into halftime with a 69-64 lead. The Spurs can credit their second-quarter performance in large part to center Victor Wembanyama who scored 12 points in the quarter on six shot attempts.
During the third quarter, the Spurs would continue to hold their small lead even though the Thunder outscored them in the quarter 32-29 as San Antonio headed into the final quarter of play only up 98-96. Oklahoma City point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Jalen Williams were huge for the Thunder in the third as they combined for 25 of the team’s 32 points. Through the final quarter of play, the game would be nip and tuck until the Spurs were able to jump ahead by nine points with nearly three minutes left in regulation as point guard Tre Jones and Wembanyama both hit big three-point shots to put San Antonio up 122-113. While Oklahoma City would continue to fight, they just couldn’t come back late in this one.
Vassell and Wembanyama were on their A-game tonight helping the Spurs end their five-game losing streak. Vassell finished with 28 points, nine assists, and two blocks while Wemby put up 28 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks, and two steals. The Spurs will hope to continue to use the game plan they had for this one and get themselves another win as they will stay in Texas to take on point guard Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. The Thunder on the other hand will hope to rebound from this devastating loss as they head to Phoenix to take on shooting guard Devin Booker, power forward Kevin Durant, and the Suns on Sunday night.
