SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs picked up the home win versus the Wizards, winning 139-130.
Victor Wembanyama had a career night with 50 points and six rebounds to lead the team. Julian Champagnie had 12 points and five rebounds, Harrison Barnes finished with 10, Keldon Johnson had eight, and Chris Paul had nine points and 11 assists.
Devin Vassell added 17 points and Stephon Castle had 10 points and five assists.
San Antonio was without Jeremy Sochan and Tre Jones due to injury. Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 6-6 to start the season and will next host the Lakers on Friday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Mitch Johnson:
“We kept scoring. I thought the defense in the third quarter, middle to the end, was kind of the bright spot. They made some shots tonight, so they get some credit, but we had some lack of attention to detail and consistency on the defensive end. Three 30-point quarters, fourth quarter [we scored] 39 points, so this is something we would sure up. We didn't turn it over tonight, but I felt like sometimes our attention was too preoccupied with one end of the floor that being the wrong end.”
Champagnie:
"Big praise to him (Wembanyama). Big shout out to him. He’s working on his game. He takes everything personal. I don’t know what it was [today], but he took something personal. He went out there and hooped. He didn’t bow his head. I think there was times when he missed five in a row and it was next shot, next shot, next shot. That’s what we want from him. If he had 50 every game, go ahead."
Paul:
"It's tough. He's (Popovich) such a polarizing figure, right to the whole world. Not just the Spurs, the whole basketball community. So I think our team has done a great job of leaning on each other, and especially a lot of these people that work for the team who been here for so long. And when you're together, as much as we are, we're together more than our actual families. So we become family. So it's nice to know that he's getting better.
Wembanyama:
“It’s definitely a big milestone (50 points). It’s kind of a private club. I don’t know how many players are in it, but it’s certainly something I’m proud of.”
WIZARDS
Brian Keefe
“Credit to the Spurs. They played a great game. They made some tough shots, but again, one thing I’ve talked about with our group is our resiliency and our ability to fight back. We did not start off the game well. We answered the bell, we came back. We didn’t start the third quarter well again, they made a run. They made a run in the fourth and then we cut it down to the end."