Victor Wembanyama sensationally swooped in on the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers to make more history.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s second-worst team upset the East’s third-seeded New York Knicks.
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San Antonio beat the Lakers 136-108 in Los Angeles, the hosts playing on the second straight night without stars LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in the lineup.
And superstar Wembanyama took full advantage of his inferior opposition.
In just 26 minutes of action, “Wemby” lost 40 points with a score of 13-20 on shots, including an incredible 37 in the first half. No player this season has scored so many points in one half.
The seven-foot-four freak of nature scored 25 points in the first quarter alone – the most points scored by a Spurs player in a quarter since tracking began in the play-by-play era (1997-98), according to the NBA.
Those 25 points also led the Lakers as a team (20) through the first eight minutes.
The French phenom, who played just eight minutes in the second half, added 12 rebounds and shot 4-6 from distance to give San Antonio a 29-point halftime lead with 84 points to his name.
It was the fifth straight victory for the Spurs, who sit in second place in the Western Conference standings with a 37-16 record; third best in the NBA behind Oklahoma City and Detroit.
The Indiana Pacers, fueled by Pascal Siakam’s 30 points, stunned the New York Knicks 137-134 in an overtime NBA thriller at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday AEDT.
Eight Pacers players scored in double figures to earn the victory in a game that featured a record 39 lead changes.
Andrew Nembhard added 24 points and 10 rebounds and Quenton Jackson scored 19, including two game-clinching free throws with 3.9 seconds left in overtime.
Jalen Brunson scored 40 points with five rebounds and eight assists for the Knicks. Josh Hart had a triple-double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points each – Towns making two free throws to force overtime before fouling out in the extra session.
The Pacers scored the first nine points in overtime before the Knicks staged a furious rally, cutting the deficit to one on Brunson’s three-pointer before Jackson closed out the game at the line.
The Pacers were a shadow of the team that beat the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, with Tyrese Haliburton sidelined due to the ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in their NBA Finals loss to Oklahoma City.
But they ended a four-game skid with just their fourth road win of the season, this one against a Knicks team that was tied for second in the league’s home wins with 21.
“It was a really important game for us,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
“The season we had, this environment, the opponent, our guys had a great collective spirit and a great collective will tonight.”
It was a big fall for a Knicks team that slipped a half-game behind the Boston Celtics into third place in the East, six games behind conference leader Detroit.
They had won nine of their last 10 games, seven of them by double digits.
In Houston, Kevin Durant scored 26 points to lead the Rockets to a 102-95 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Trailing by one point at halftime, the Rockets took control in the third quarter. They led by six heading into the fourth and quickly pushed the lead to 15 to head home.
Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points to lead the Clippers. John Collins added 17 and Bennedict Mathurin contributed nine off the bench in his Clippers debut.
Darius Garland, also acquired at the trade deadline in a deal that sent James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers, remained sidelined with a toe injury.
