Spurs’ Fall Despite Stellar Performance from Wembanyama

The NBA wants to showcase its best teams and superstar players. Victor Wembanyama may not be in the same superstar class as Lebron James and Steph Curry, but he certainly played like it in his first-ever Christmas Day game.

The second year Frenchman had 42 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks and four assists in the Spurs’ 117-114 loss against the New York Knicks (20-10) at Madison Square Garden on Christmas morning. It’s the third-most points scored by a player in their first game on Christmas.

San Antonio and New York exchanged leads throughout the game and neither team was able to build a large lead. The Knicks led by one point after the first quarter and the Spurs led by seven (58-51) at halftime. That trend continued in the third quarter with Knicks heading into the final 12 minutes of play with a five-point lead.

The Spurs had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but couldn’t recover a rebound after a pair of missed shots by New York.

Jeremy Sochan had a good Christmas day showing with 21 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs. Devin Vassell added an additional 11 points. Chris Paul had 13 points and seven assists, while Tre Jones had a team-high nine assists off the bench.

New York had three players score 20 or more points, led by Mikal Bridges with 41, Karl-Anthony Towns with 21 and Jalen Brunson had 20.

San Antonio (15-15) will be back in action on Friday when the Spurs travel to the Brooklyn Nets (11-18). Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

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