Spurs' Victor Wembanyama showed Suns why he might be NBA's next great clutch player
There's a difference between All-Stars and superstars.
All-Stars put up big numbers. Superstars do the same, but they're known for taking over in the clutch, especially against the best players.
The Suns (2-3) experienced a double dose of that from Victor Wembanyama, who drove the young San Antonio Spurs (3-2) to prevail in two consecutive thrillers on Tuesday and Thursday over the highly touted Phoenix roster led by Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
“Somebody has to do it," Wenbanyama said after Thursday's game about his early career-best 38 points, including 10 in the closing minutes. "Tomorrow it will be one of my teammates. Two days ago, it was Keldon (Johnson). This is how we work. We work as a group and as a team.”
Wenbanyama, 19, obviously isn't an All-Star yet because he's only five games into his rookie year. But San Antonio's 7-foot-4 unicorn and No. 1 overall draft pick lived up to his towering media hype during both fourth quarters in Phoenix.
In addition to his 38, Wembanyama dominated from the start on both ends of the floor as he produced his game-high 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and one steal.
“I think he got at least 18 points off fast break layups, then we were switching and he was being big in the paint over the top of guys catching lobs," Kevin Durant said.
During Phoenix's fourth quarter run, Wembanyama looked heroic as San Antonio didn't have a timeout in the final six minutes.
Devin Booker (team-high 31 points, 13 assists) and Durant (28 points, six rebounds) willed Phoenix back from its biggest deficit 27 points to tie the game at 116 with 4:21 left to play. But Wembanyama scored 10 points during San Antonio's 12-0 run to extend the margin and seal the 11-point win.
Wenbanyama went 4-of-4 including two 3s in the final 4:15 as he outscored Phoenix by five, and Phoenix shot 1-10 in that span.
“He is an unbelievable talent. I think everybody knows that," Booker said. "Just trying to figure out what he is because we have never seen him before. We got him early in the season and hopefully next time that we play him we can make some adjustments to make it tougher on him. But he has an advantage being 7’4” and being able to shoot over everybody. Just finding different ways to make it tough on him."
In San Antonio's previous victory against Phoenix on Halloween, Wenbanyama had 18 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. In the fourth quarter, he had nine points, two rebounds, one steal and a block, including his follow-up dunk that was part of San Antonio's 6-0 run, which ended on Johnson snatching the ball from Durant in the backcourt and scoring the go-ahead layup to complete its 20-point comeback to win.
Wenbanyama is averaging 20.6 points, shooting 50% overall and 32% from the arc, 8.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and is currently tied for sixth in the league at 2.2 blocks.
During the fourth quarter of his first five games, he's producing an impressive average of 8.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.2 blocks in eight minutes, and hitting 15-of-19. His 78.9% field goal percentage is the best among the league's 117 players who've attempted at least 10 shots in the final period, per ESPN.
The outlier in his fourth quarter stats were significantly lower (two points, two rebounds, one assist, five minutes) was when the Los Angeles Clippers routed San Antonio by 40 on Sunday.
“He’s a multi-faceted player. He’ll pass it to the open guy, but he’s got confidence in himself, and he made some plays that were unbelievable," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "So, that combination is pretty good if you have that skill and still willing to pass. I think we had 37 assists (on Thursday). And we didn’t turn it over on the road. I think we turned it over eight times. So, for a young team on the road to do that, is good. We’ll see if we can make it a habit."
Wenbanyama has an airplane-like eight-foot wingspan, elite ball-handling skills, smooth outside shooting touch, yet lithe 210-pound frame. Phoenix's backup big Drew Eubanks (6-foot-10, 245 pounds) said during his team's Tuesday pregame shootaround that he would try to be physical with him to "make him uncomfortable."
Phoenix coach Frank Vogel repeated that idea after Tuesday's loss.
On Thursday, Eubanks (13 points, five rebounds, one block) replaced its burly starting center Yusuf Nurkic (seven points, three rebounds, one steal) for the entire fourth quarter to try to be more effective in defending against Wenbanyama, but with little success.
"I think they just decided to play small. We all do that, coaches do that. Just because they lost doesn’t mean it didn’t work," Popovich said. "We all do what we can to get things straight but I thought that when those guys were on him, I’m not sure it makes a difference. He’s pretty tall. He’s out there getting close to the basket on Nurkic or on Drew because they’re so much stronger than he is, but he’ll figure out a way to do something different."
Yeah, this kid's different.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Spurs' Wembanyama showed Suns why he's NBA's new top 4th quarter threat
