It’s hard to tell whether the individual numbers would have been even better or worse for Victor Wembanyama after the drama in the first half injected new life into the 76ers. He already had seven blocks when Joel Embiid was ejected, but he was struggling to knock down shots. Once the chaos unfolded, he blocked fewer shots but scored more points. It was a crazy game.
Wemby scored 26 points, and he was obscenely efficient after the first quarter when he went 1-5. The Frenchman was 8-14 the rest of the game, that includes going 6-9 from the 3-point line from quarters two through four. He rejected eight shots and was putting his stamp on another game that saw an opponent try him. The display resulted in a record the league has never seen.
Victor Wembanyama ranks as the 1st player with 15 3-pointers and 20 blocks over a 3-game span in NBA history.
— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) December 24, 2024
Wembanyama is everything right with Spurs and bright days are ahead
The Alien is proving that you can’t dictate what he should be doing based on the past. He’s unlike any other player to grace an NBA court, and his numbers on both sides of the floor demonstrate that.
There was so much absurdity in this game. The debatable foul calls on Andre Drummond to his ejection and its reversal, Embiid’s outburst, resulting in his ejection, and the Philadelphia crowd taking their frustrations out on Vic with a parade of boos every time he touched the ball. It wasn’t a normal game.
San Antonio has a lot to figure out over the rest of the season. Their second-best player, Devin Vassell, ended the night with 15 points on 4-11 shooting. He was a -17 in the plus/minus stat, and it’s the second game in a row he underperformed to his standard after an explosive 23 points in his return to the starting lineup.
I’ve been a strong supporter of his return to the opening unit, but if he needed to start providing consistent production sometime soon. The fifth-year guard has scored 15 points or less in four of his last six games, including two single-digit performances. That’s not going to cut it.
Vassell got to the free-throw line a few times, shooting 6-7 from the charity stripe, and that aggressiveness is an improvement. The shot won’t always fall, and he needed to find different ways to impact the game. He did that to an extent by drawing shooting fouls, but that doesn’t excuse the poor offensive production in the areas he’s expected to shine.
Joel Embiid was ejected from this game, and Tyrese Maxey stepped up and delivered. Vassell is supposed to be a deadly weapon on the court that can explode at any moment, but he isn’t giving the team that power right now.
Wembanyama needs a strong number two, and fans are hoping that the guy who has been in the league a few years longer than the Alien can step up and provide some reliability. Wemby is breaking records and taking the league by storm. His progress has been more rapid than anyone could have predicted, yet the team is being held back by more seasoned players talented enough to do more.
They’re all still young, and blah, blah, blah, but at the end of the day, age can only be used for so long when you’ve been in the league for years. Vassell was a lottery pick in 2020, and he needs to start playing like it. If Wemby can repeatedly exceed his expectations, the least Dev can do is live up to his.
