Victor Wembanyama flirts with a triple-double in loss to the L.A. Clippers

Our San Antonio Spurs flew close to the sun, basking in the glory of a 40-point opening quarter, but the wax and feather wings soon wore off. But let's focus on the positives. I saw the 40-14 first quarter lead and thought, "Cool. Surely we can proverbially and literally kick our legs up, relax, and then I can think of witty things to write for all of the fantastic highlights to pick from." Alas, it was not meant to be, and don't call us Shirley.

But for the positives: the young Spurs provided some gems in a game where Victor Wembanyama led all players with 24 points, pulled down 13 boards, and swatted an eye-popping 9 shots. Chris Paul, as he tends to do, dipped once again into the fountain of youth and showed off his floor vision and basketball IQ. He also put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Julian Champagnie was able to score a season-high 21 points to help pace the good guys.

The footwork of Wembanyama continues to impress me most. Here, he surgically operates around two defenders to deftly find Jeremy Sochan for the flush. Sochan was on his way to another fast start before leaving with an injury. These Spurs aren't fully operational yet so hopefully they get Sochan and Devin Vassell back sooner than later (and Coach Popovich as well!)

Stephon Castle showed off some moves down low as he pump faked his way for an easy bucket. While the rookie will certainly improve as the season wears on, it's nice seeing a varied and somewhat mature offensive game from the former Husky.

Here, Wembanyama did his best Mr. Fantastic impression and smacked the ball to Julian Champagnie, who smartly gave it to Chris Paul, who navigated down the court to set up the transition bucket to none other than Wembanyama, who came barreling in at the last moment like he was Sting taking on 40 members of the nWo.

Chris Paul transplanted his lob city vibes to the Spurs with this beautiful feed to Wembanyama for the one-handed flush. Speaking of which, when does the sophomore Spur get his own car sponsorship like Mr. Paul's former lob partner, Blake Griffin? I'm thinking something along the lines of an electric collapsible stretch SUV for people with or without kids who need flexibility and do not have much garage space. It may seem like some nonsensical design concocted from the head of Homer Simpson, and it may not seem feasible from an engineering standpoint, but hey I'm just here to write about our favorite team not be the next Preston Tucker.

The angle, the vision, the dime. Perfection. I just love a good bounce pass, and CP3 delivered a bee-au-tee-full richochet to Wembanyama for the dunk. After a slow-ish start, Paul is now on a 3-game double-digit assist streak and sitting at 8.7 assists per game, just below his career average of 9.3.

I think it's safe to say that number will go up as he and Wembanyama and the rest of the team get more comfortable together than they already look like so far.

With the fake and the authority, Wembanyama sent this jam home. He got up so high (and he's just so tall) that he's practically eye level to the rim before thundering the ball through.

A lot of warts in this game came with some rough carbon that will eventually be shaped into diamond. Wembanyama, for his part, has had a slow and inconsistent start to the season, but it does look like he'll be snapping into rhythm sooner than later compared to his rookie season.

If you missed the game because you were too busy making a concept of a plan to go vote (go exercise that constitutional right!), here are the full-game highlights:

Next up, the Spurs head straight to Houston to take on the Rockets on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.