SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama showed out on his birthday, Devin Vassell led San Antonio with 34, and the Spurs had one of their best games of the season but fell to the visiting Bucks 125-121.
Wemby turned 20 on Thursday, and Gregg Popovich gave his star rookie a gift in the form of a starting point guard. After starting the season with the Sochan experiment and shifting toward four perimeter players alongside Wemby at center, injuries gave Pop little choice but to start Tre Jones for the first time this year.
Wemby drove against Giannis early to give him a foul and score the first points of the night. The pair didn't spend the majority of their time guarding each other, with Wemby at the five against Brook Lopez and Jeremy Sochan pestering the Greek Freak. Giannis got the better oh him on one drive for a reverse layup, then Sochan responded with a strip.
Tre Jones coughed it up right out of the gate, but on the next trip down he sprayed it out to Devin Vassell for three. Milwaukee scored on a backdoor cut on a baseline out of bounds play, and Gregg Popovich didn't like that at all so he called timeout. The play out of it ended with a turnover, Wemby missed a few shots and Khris Middleton ripped off a 7-0 run.
Jones ran a pick and roll with Wemby, who caught the pass on the roll and spun in before a lefty hook shot in close. The Bucks pushed their lead up to 13, but San Antonio responded. Jones drove for free throws, then picked off a pass and popped in a transition layup. Keldon Johnson checked in and pulled up for three, then Jones swished a floater to make it a 9-0 run.
Blake Welsey has spent most of his second season learning how to point guard in Austin. He took over for Jones and zipped a cross-court dime to Cedi Osman for three.
Giannis got a head of steam and leapt toward the rim with violent intentions, but Barlow leapt with him and stuffed his attempt. The next trip down Barlow blocked an attempt from behind. He drove on the other end, somehow maintained it in a crowd and kicked out to Osman for three more. Wesley drove in pick and roll and found Osman, who made the extra pass to Sochan who swished from the corner. The Bucks led 38-31 after the first.
Osman drove the lane and finished through contact for an and-1 to start the second right. Giannis drove for an insane dunk, but Wemby answered with some insanity of his own. Giannis tried to reach around the rookie to poke a steal, and Wembanyama kept the ball but he picked up his dribble 20 feet from the hoop. He went with an underhanded scoop off the window before a two-handed tomahawk that blew the roof off the arena.
Vassell and Barlow found a bit of a groove in the pick and roll and scored on four possessions in a row, and the Spurs cut Milwaukee's advantage to just a point. Vassell drilled a three, then Wemby put back a missed three for an easy dunk, but the Bucks kept up the pace. San Antonio went into the locker room down 64-59, with Vassell and Jones both in double figures.
The third quarter started the way it normally does for the Spurs, which is to say badly. They quickly fell behind by double digits, but it resulted in a delightful mini takeover for Wemby. He finished a layup off a feed from Jones and blocked a shot and hit a three, but one play was head and shoulders above the rest.
He used an extendo arm to poke away a pass, dribbled coast to coast, put it behind his back, and dunked despite a foul from Lopez.
Vassell canned a corner three, then he drove in for a tough, fading layup to make it a one-point game. Giannis bullied his way in for a score, then Vassell hit another three to tie. The Bucks answered, then Keldon tied it. The Bucks answered, then Vassell tied it. The Bucks answered, and with a preposterous reverse layup Keldon tied it once more. It was knotted at 93 heading to the fourth.
Cedi Osman drilled a corner three to start the fourth and give San Antonio their first advantage since the very start of the game. Keldon swished another to add to that lead.
KJ drove baseline and went up for another reverse layup, except he kept going up and up and up until he threw it down for an exclamation point that the whole crowd felt.
Wemby scored inside, then made a crisp rotation to block a three on the other end. It went back and forth, and Vassell knocked down another triple to get to 30 points on the night. Dame hit a crazy layup to push Milwaukee in front, but on the other end Vassell got Lillard up in the air with a fake and swished from the free throw line to take the lead right back.
The Spurs got a crucial stop, Tre Jones drove for a floater, the Spurs got another stop, and Wemby came back in the game with 4 minutes left and a 3-point lead.
Vassell missed a jumper in close but got up to slam it home, and turned to his bench to share in the distribution of positive energy. Giannis muscled in for an and-1, then Wemby split a pair at the stripe.
Wemby gave Giannis space, and the Greek Freak rained a three on him. On the other end the rookie missed his response, then got the board but drove right into Giannis for a charge. Once again San Antonio dared Antetokounmpo to shoot from the perimeter, and once again he made them pay. Pop called time, now down 3.
The play out of the timeout amounted to nothing, Milwaukee missed, and Keldon missed. Wemby blocked a shot at the rim, then trailed the play and hit from distance to tie it up.
Giannis untied it loudly with an and-1. Jones set up a beautiful open corner three for Sochan, but he missed.
With the Spurs needing a stop, Giannis sized up Wemby and drove on him. The rookie answered the bell and met him on the mountaintop for a block, and the crowd erupted.
Pop called time and drew up the final play.
Milwaukee played tough defense and Jones got a good look at the tie from the corner, but he couldn't knock it down.
San Antonio fell 125-121, but it was one of their most impressive efforts of the season.
