The Spurs, who returned to their home court after a long road trip, faced off against the Thunder who had a big gap in the record today, and the two teams' young inside Wembanyama and Holmgren handed over 28 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks, 2 steals and 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists respectively, and finally the Spurs defeated the Thunder, who ranked second in the West, with a gap of 14 points, interrupting the Thunder's 6-game winning streak. In particular, Wembanyama's shooting with 1 assist, 1 three-pointer and a frontal block at a critical moment seems to have made this year's rookie of the year race a clear conclusion.
The Spurs entered a run-in period after Wembanyama joined this season, and their record has always hovered in the bottom 2 of the West, but after the adaptation period, the Spurs gradually liberated Wembanyama's restrictions on both offensive and defensive ends, allowing him to fully display his talent, creating incredible offensive and defensive data performances and visual shock on the court, which brought a lot of topics to the team, especially his matchup with Thunder Holmgren has become a topic guarantee this season.
Although Holmgren's Thunder can be said to be the league's most eye-catching team this season, Wembanyama relied on 5 three-pointers in a single game to overwhelm the opponent in personal performance, and became the first player in history to score at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks and hit 5 three-pointers in a single game. Even throughout February, Wembanyama dished out at least 50 assists, 45 blocks, 20 steals and made at least 25 three-pointers, a feat that no one has been able to achieve in a single month in the league's 75-year history. Despite only playing a few games, Wembanyama has already set a terrifying stats and records that many players have been unable to achieve in their lifetimes, showing the ceiling of his future.
After the game, Wembanyama also took the microphone to encourage the home fans to cheer for the Spurs, and bluntly said that he missed the fans cheering for them, talking about his aggressive offensive performance, he said: "There are a lot of psychological factors involved, Kobe Bryant once said that the most important thing to win a game is to shoot, shoot hard, although defense must account for 90% of your effort, but offense needs more energy than this." ”
For having such a super young talent in his hands, head coach Popovich said that he will not rush to grow quickly, but will take it step by step. "We won't be too anxious about the development of Wembanyama, we won't help it. He himself is passionate about learning. I want to see what Wembanyama can do before he fits into the team. I've done the same with Duncan in the past. Obviously he's not afraid to show himself, he's always bold and fearless, he's not worried about losing or what the consequences are, he enjoys the moment. ”
Despite having the lowest record in the West, the Spurs have beaten the Timberwolves and Thunder, who are the top two teams in the West in the past month, respectively, and Holmgren said: "It's just another reminder that this is the NBA, there's no team playing here for no reason, any team can win every night, and it has nothing to do with the record, they came to the court today with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can do better in the next game." ”
It is worth mentioning that while the Spurs genius Wembanyama frequently creates terrifying data, he may also sigh "both Shengyu and He Shengliang", and Holmgren also swept the league with excellent talent and excellent technical conditions, writing a rookie legend no less than Wembanyama. The duo's battle for the Rookie of the Year award has also been the highlight of the season, with Holmgren becoming the first rookie in history to hit at least 100 three-pointers and 100 blocks in a single season. This achievement, combined with the fact that he has more than 150 assists, is even more impressive.
Of course, Wembanyama is not to be outdone, as he has accumulated 180 blocks and 178 assists, as well as hitting 89 three-pointers, and will soon catch Holmgren's milestone record of 100 blocks, 100 three-pointers and 150 assists. In the same year, the rookie released two monster insiders in a row, and it also announced that the super-generation showdown between Wembanyama and Holmgren will continue to be staged in the future.