Victor Wembanyama sank the profitable free throw to end with a career-high 52 factors as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 on Wednesday.
The French star, whose earlier best was 50 factors in 2024, dominated at both ends of the court to also claim 24 rebounds and eight blocks.
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The 22-year-old is the first participant in 52 years with at least 50 factors, 20 rebounds and 5 blocks in a sport.
He also turned the fifth participant since 1982 to register at least 50 factors and 20 rebounds as San Antonio improved their file to 6-2.
Wembanyama reached half-time with 29 factors, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks and two steals, before the Spurs held off a second-half rally by Dallas, who were led by 29 factors from Kyrie Irving.
“I haven’t been feeling great lately,” said Wembanyama. “I’ve been sick for a while.
“Today I felt like I got my legs back, so it should be more like this more usually.”
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James plays down Finals talk
Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 112-106 win over the Detroit Pistons in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference clash.
Brown (30 points) and Embiid (26) led a balanced offensive performance as Philadelphia saw all five starters reach double figures, with LeBron James claiming a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The 76ers now have the NBA’s best record at 8-1 after bringing in Brown and James in the off-season.
“It’s too early to be speaking about the Finals and issues of that nature,” said James. “We’ll just proceed to buy into what we need to do. We got a good crew.”
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The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 116-103 with Luka Doncic scoring a game-high 40 points to reach 308 for the season.
The Slovenian star became the first player to pass 300 in his first eight games of a season since Michael Jordan (303) in 1988-89.
Doncic was also involved in an incident which led to a fan being removed after throwing the ball at an official, which struck her as she was signalling a Lakers possession.
Meanwhile, London-born OG Anunoby scored 18 points for the New York Knicks as the reigning champions enjoyed their biggest win of the season, beating the Chicago Bulls 135-105 to improve to 4-4.
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