Stephon Castle matched his season-high with 22 points and Wemby notched 24 in the Silver & Black’s latest win.
SAN ANTONIO — When the Spurs doused the Miami Heat to move to 4-0 in October 2017, LaMarcus Aldridge scored a team-high 31 points, Rudy Gay chipped in 22 off the bench and a 40-year-old Manu Ginobili – embarking on what would be his final NBA season – dropped another 14.
None of those three players are still hitting the NBA hardwood. In fact, no player that suited up for the Spurs in that game was on the Silver & Black roster on Monday night, when they held off the Toronto Raptors and improved to 4-0 for the first time in eight years.
If you were looking for the surest sign yet that this was a new chapter of Spurs basketball featuring a team aiming to reach that same pinnacle as those successful squads of previous installments… Monday’s win might be it. The Spurs led by 19 at halftime of perhaps their smoothest win of the season so far, emerging with the 121-103 victory thanks to stout defense when they needed it and double-digit scoring performances from six players.
Victor Wembanyama, hours removed from winning his second career Western Conference Player of the Week award, scored a team-high 24 points to go along with 15 rebounds, 4 assists and a block. Nearly half his points – 10 of them – came at the free throw line, where he was perfect.
By most measures, that stat line is the most human Wemby’s looked so far in the young season. It’s thanks to the continuing efforts by his supporting staff, including Stephon Castle (22 points) and Harrison Barnes (18 points, 4 of 5 from deep), that San Antonio still managed to win by double-digits.
Yet Wemby continued to dazzle spectators. He drove to the rim past Jakob Poeltl, made a 360-degree spin to avoid a charging Scottie Barnes and put the ball off the glass for a layup in the first half.
San Antonio raced out to a 41-29 lead that saw the team firing on all cylinders—punctuated by a thunderous block from rookie Carter Bryant.
Toronto cut it to 93-101 with less than 8 minutes remaining in the game, but a Wembanyama dunk and Castle 3-pointer neutered the Raptors’ comeback bid. Sandro Mamukelashvili, the former Spur and San Antonio fan favorite, scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting off the bench.
Wembanyama blocked Barrett’s layup with 3:59 remaining for his 89th straight game with at least one blocked shot, breaking a tie with Patrick Ewing for the fourth-longest in league history. Ewing holds the record with 145 straight games with a block, followed by Atlanta’s Dikembe Mutombo (116) and Utah’s Mark Eaton (94).
PHOTOS: Spurs 121, Raptors 103 | NBA Basketball
San Antonio won its fourth straight against Toronto, with both teams playing the second night of back-to-back games. Toronto lost its third straight after winning its season opener. R.J. Barrett had 25 points, Collin Murray-Boyles added 19 and Immanuel Quickley had 15 for the Raptors.
Up next for San Antonio: A homestand finale against the Miami Heat on Thursday night.
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