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Michael C. Wright, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama produced his 12th career 30-point game, and his first this season Monday, in leading his team to a 116-96 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Wembanyama scored 34 points with 14 rebounds, six assists and three blocks in his 82nd career NBA game to become the sixth player in league history to rack up 1,700-plus points, 800-plus rebounds and 300 or more assists over his first 82 contests. The 20-year old joins a group that includes Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Wicks, Larry Bird and Blake Griffin.
“He makes shots every day,” Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said. “He missed really good shots to start the year, and I understand why it’s a talking point. But I don’t think we ever waivered on him not making shots. I think it is just the percentages evening out at this point.”
Wembanyama connected on 6 of 12 from 3-point range against the Kings — which were playing on the second night of a back-to-back set – to match his career-high in made 3s set Saturday in a 111-110 loss to the Utah Jazz. The Frenchman drilled two of his first three attempts from 3-point range in the opening quarter and 2 of 3 in the second quarter as San Antonio carried a 38-29 lead into intermission.
Looking to inflict a large portion of his damage from the perimeter over the team’s first 11 games of the season, Wembanyama shot 10 of 41 from 3-point range in the previous five contests before hitting 12 of 21 from deep over his last two. With the Spurs leading by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, Wembanyama cranked up the shot accuracy even more to close out the game, sinking 4 of 5 from the field and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.
He whipped the Frost Bank Center crowd of 17,163 into a frenzy with 58 ticks left on the clock with a putback dunk off a Stephon Castle miss.
“I think what changed for sure is I didn’t take any less 3s,” Wembanyama said. “I took better 3s, I think. Of course, it’s feeling better. I’m 20. I hope for some years it’s going to feel better and better. There’s no reason for it to feel worse.”
Wembanyama’s performance against the Kings marked his seventh career game with 30 points or more, 10-plus rebounds and at least five assists. The Spurs now own a record of 5-7 in those games.
“He is a great shooter,” Spurs forward Harrison Barnes said. “I have never doubted his ability in terms of shooting, in terms of playing. For us, it is just continuing to take those shots, even when we are not making them. Obviously, early in the season we kind of struggled shooting a little bit. But we’re just continuing to take shots with confidence and letting them fly.”
Defensively, Wembanyama strung together his fifth-straight game with three or more blocks, which ties for the second-longest streak of his career, just four games shy of the nine-game run he put together last season from February to March. Wembanyama logged one of his three blocks against three-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis.
“Domantas is a top five center in the league,” said Barnes, a former teammate of Sabonis in Sacramento.””His stats speak for themselves. For Vic to take the challenge tonight, a lot of times, he is guarding him one on one. That was a big-time effort against a big-time player.”
Veteran point guard Chris Paul spent time Sunday working with Wembanyama and Devin Vassell, who made his season debut Saturday after missing the first nine games of the season. The trio took in an extra session together again Monday at the team’s shootaround.
“I wish you could see the work that goes in, day in and day out,” Paul said. “There are things that happen in the game where we all see the growth, everybody on the team. So, it’s fun to see that.”
Paul scored 12 points against the Kings and dished 11 assists for his 531st career double, which ranks as third most by any guard since the NBA-ABA merger behind John Stockton (714) and Magic Johnson (615). Paul has already put together four games with 10 points or more and 10-plus assists after finishing last season with five such performances in 58 contests.
“I think it was one of those nights where we got back to our strengths,” Wembanyama said. “We needed points, and we also had guys we knew who to go back to.”
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