Victor Wembanyama looks like an MVP candidate as Spurs crush Mavs in opener
In Wembanyama's first game since a blood clot ended his last season prematurely, the Spurs' 7-foot-5 star had 40 points and 15 rebounds.
www.nytimes.com
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| Yep, the Spurs' young star is an alien |
| I understand if you’re not ready to be here with me (and others, I’m sure), but in no way does it feel hyperbolic to call Victor Wembanyama a top-five player in the NBA. He’s only 21. His third year just started, and his second season ended early because of deep vein thrombosis. It’s easy to get caught up in moments and get too excited about a player. But Wemby is absolutely a top-five player in the league right now. I feel comfortable saying Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are better, because of course. After that? I’ll listen to the arguments for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić. It’s cool if you think that’s absurd. But it’s not a definite case, if last night is any sign of what is to come and what is here today. Anthony Davis is a really good defender, and with lots of logic, you might think he’s the ideal person to defend Wemby and take away what he’s good at doing. Wemby absolutely cooked Davis last night. He dropped an easy 40 on him and Dereck Lively II and anybody else who was unfortunate enough to defend him, as the Spurs won 125-92. Everything Wemby did was easy. He went 15-of-21 from the field and 9-of-11 from the line. He took two 3-pointers and made one of them. He also had 15 rebounds and three blocks — though his presence had the Dallas Mavericks not really interested in exploring the paint. There were so many highlights to choose from, but this was the one that had group chats flooded with swear words and social media racing to see who could post the video faster. Watch what he does to Lively here. |
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| That’s what a 7-foot-7 Steph Curry would look like! They wouldn’t let you create a player like this in a video game past like 2009 because they decided to try to make things realistic. This happened about 10 seconds after he spiked a Lively shot in the paint. Earlier in the game, he pump faked PJ Washington into the atmosphere, drove baseline, took a swipe on the arm from AD and did an up-and-under, two-handed, reverse dunk. |
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| Just ridiculous for a man who might be upwards of 9 feet tall by the end of this sentence. We’re a handful of paragraphs and two GIFs into this section, and I haven’t even mentioned that Cooper Flagg started at point guard and made his debut for the Mavs. It was supposed to be this great showdown between two of the most hyped prospects of the past 15 years. Instead, Flagg struggled and all of the shine went to Wemby. Flagg finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 from the field and 10 rebounds. Zero assists despite starting as the “point guard,” and most of his damage happened later in the game with the outcome decided. Dallas needs to get him more action going to the basket, which will be easier when Wemby isn’t stalking the rim |
which is absurd and ridiculous to say( I know); but dude has it and its only a matter of time before he puts it all together...
