The most spectacular match of the night took place in San Antonio, won by the Spurs in overtime after recovering a double-digit lead in the second half of the match. The monstrous performances of Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson dominate the scene, but for the hosts there are also 23 points and 7 assists from Devin Vassell and 17 points coming off the bench from Keldon Johnson. For the Knicks, however, there are 20 points and 6 rebounds from Donte DiVincenzo.
“Nice, but it doesn’t really matter much because we lost.” It is Brunson himself who thus dismisses his career high, because the 61 points given to the Spurs (taking 47 shots) were not worth the victory. What burns, for Brunson and for the Knicks, is the missed triple 5 seconds from the end of overtime and which would have given the guests overtaking and the player the record for points scored in a single game in the history of the franchise (which however remains the property by Carmelo Anthony with 62).
In the victory over the Knicks Wembanyama recorded his career high with 40 points scored, to which he also added 20 rebounds and 7 assists while shooting 59.1% from the field. It had been over thirty years, more precisely since February 16, 1993, that a rookie had not achieved a double double of over 40 points and 20 rebounds. The last to do so was Shaquille O’Neal with 46 points and 21 rebounds, while the Frenchman achieved his 39th double double in 65 games played in his debut year.