Dec 25, 2024; New York, New York, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) in the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Victor Wembanyama enjoyed a memorable performance on Wednesday against the New York Knicks but was not a fan of the outcome for the San Antonio Spurs.
After his 42 points and 18 rebounds were not enough to earn visiting San Antonio a victory in his first NBA appearance on Christmas Day, Wembanyama and the Spurs will attempt to avoid a third straight loss Friday night when they oppose the Brooklyn Nets in New York.
The Spurs will be well-rested after playing the early game on Wednesday, and they are hoping not to waste another big showing from their second-year center. In his fourth career 40-point game, Wembanyama made 16 of 31 shots and hit six of his career-high-tying 16 3-point tries.
Despite the big game, the Spurs took another close defeat after taking a five-point loss to the 76ers on Monday. Wembanyama scored 26 points at Philadelphia.
“I’m thinking about the game right now,” Wembanyama said following the Christmas contest, “and just thinking that we were close but we lack some attributes at times.”
The Spurs were again hurt by struggles on the glass. San Antonio conceded 17 offensive boards, the fourth time it gave up at least that many this season. The loss was the Spurs’ first in seven games this campaign when they shot at least 50 percent from the floor.
“(Wednesday) just proved that we’re not ready yet,” Wembanyama said. “This is how I see it, because it’s high effort to play like that but it’s also high rewards.”
Wembanyama totaled 33 points and 15 rebounds against the Nets on March 17 in San Antonio after scoring 21 points on Feb. 10 at Brooklyn.
He heads into his third encounter against a struggling version of the Nets, who are 3-8 in their past 11 games.
Despite the rough patch, Brooklyn is coming off a strong road performance on Thursday. The Nets bounced back from a pair of double-digit losses to earn a 111-105 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Three nights after scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat, the Nets outscored Milwaukee 35-23 in the final period thanks to big performances from Cameron Johnson and Shake Milton.
Johnson scored 10 of his 29 points in the quarter and Milton added 14 of his 20 in the final 12 minutes. Brooklyn shot 57.9 percent in the period to overcome a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
“Sometimes good energy just filters its way into the game and positive results happen,” Johnson said. “I think the whole time we were committed to the schemes that we wanted to do and in the second half we executed them better.
“A lot of that was scoring off of turnovers and scoring in transition and finding those easier looks.”
Johnson continued his recent hot streak on a night when he withstood a couple of hard falls to the court. He is averaging 23.4 points in his past nine games, including a 33-point showing at Toronto on Dec. 19.
The Nets played a third straight game without Dorian Finney-Smith (bruised left calf). Noah Clowney scored 20 points filling in for Finney-Smith, who might return Friday. The Nets may also have Ben Simmons available for the first time on both ends of a back-to-back after he played 29 minutes in Milwaukee.
–Field Level Media
