A self alley-oop? A behind-the-back one-handed throwdown? A vicious block of the Greek Freak?
Victor Wembanyama showed exactly why he’d long been considered a generational prodigy in a thrilling duel with Giannis Antetokounmpo on Thursday night.
It might not have been enough to get the win in a 125-121 loss to the Bucks, but the rookie celebrated his 20th birthday with a performance that had the sports world buzzing. In fact, “Wemby” was the country’s top trending topic in what amounted to his coming out party. There aren’t many who can go toe-to-toe with Antetokounmpo, which is why the final score took a back seat to the highlight-reel duel between the pair.
Take the second quarter, for example. Antetokounmpo spun to the net from the top of the key and dunked the ball with authority exactly one minute into the quarter. A few seconds later, Wembanyama cut through a pair of defenders, threw the ball off the backboard to himself and slammed it down for the self alley-oop.
The game was peppered by those types of back-and-forth theatrics. However, perhaps most impressive was the way Wembanyama took over late in the fourth quarter as the five-win Spurs took the Bucks down to the wire.
Wembanyama had a nasty block of Damian Lillard as he attacked the rim with just over a minute remaining and Milwaukee up 121-118. Not even 10 seconds later, he took a feed at the top of the arc and drained a 26-foot 3-pointer to tie the game.
It was Antetokounmpo’s turn to put on a show next. The two-time MVP drove to the rim and threw down a nasty one-handed dunk over two defenders while taking the foul. He drained the free throw to put the Bucks back up three.
Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan missed a 3-pointer on the other end, setting up what is arguably Wembanyama’s signature moment in his young career.
Antetokounmpo bullied his way toward the basket as Wembanyama switched over to defend. He took a blow from Antetokounmpo, who rose high to throw it down, but the rookie got the best of him with an emphatic one-handed rejection. Unfortunately, Spurs guard Tre Jones missed a 23-foot jumper to tie the game on the ensuing possession with just over a second remaining, securing Milwaukee the win while robbing the rest of us of potentially an extra five minutes between Giannis and Wemby.
Wembanyama has impressed throughout the year, yet he entered the night second to Chet Holmgren in the Rookie of the Year race. He was +150 at FanDuel prior to tip-off while the Oklahoma City center was -250. However, the odds changed the instant Wemby rejected Giannis as Holmgren dipped down to -210 while Wembanyama improved to +140. The race became even closer at other sportsbooks, as DraftKings listed Holmgren at -190 and Wembanyama +120.
The Spurs’ identity over the last five decades has been a dominating big man. David Robinson and Tim Duncan are Hall of Famers, and the expectation has been that Wembanyama would be on par with those legends. It’s not fair to put such a heavy burden on a rookie, and he has a long way to go before being considered in the same breath as them. However, his performance against Antetokounmpo showed just why he’s earned an extraordinary amount of hype and is the NBA’s latest must-watch player.
