Victor Wembanyama outduels Jalen Brunson to lead Spurs past Knicks

An all-time historic performancegraced the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Friday night, butthe Spurs had someone answer it with Victor Wembanyama’s historicplay of his own.

The phenomenal rookie ousted theherculean effort of New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, tallying a40-point, 20-rebound, and 7-assist line to lead the San AntonioSpurs to a thrilling 130-126 overtime win.

Brunson was sensational as hescored 61 points on an incredible 25-47 from the field. He onlyshot 6 free throws all game long and was 5-13 on threes. The61-point outing from Brunson was one short of the all-time Knicksscoring record by Carmelo Anthony in 2014 when he scored 62 pointsvs the Charlotte Hornets.

Wembanyama’s historic night wasalso his career-high scoring in points, resulting in a thirdstraight win for the Spurs as the presumed Rookie of the Yearfrontrunner’s season winds to a close. His and Brunson’s stat linewas only the second time in NBA history that it has happened, withthe other instance happening in 1961 when Wilt Chamberlain had 78points and 43 rebounds and Elgin Baylor had 63 points, according toESPN Stats and Information research.

Wembanyama sank a huge threelate in overtime to put the Spurs up four, 128-124, to keep theKnicks in bay.

Brunson’s 61 surpassed hiscareer-high of 50 which was set vs the Phoenix Suns earlier in theseason.

Donte DiVincenzo, who broke theKnicks’ record for most threes in a season, scored 20 points with 6threes while Devin Vassell added 23 for the Spurs.

New York’s loss (44-29) movedthem half a game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-29) in the racefor the third seed in the Eastern Conference after they beat thePhiladelphia 76ers, 117-114.