Rome was not built in a day. The same goes for the San Antonio Spurs. Having struggled for several years, the Texan club is rebuilding itself little by little, with the French phenomenon Victor Wembanyama as a beacon in the night. And it will take a little more time for it to become a success machine. The defeat in Dallas (120-109), for their first match of the season, on the night of Thursday to Friday, is therefore not surprising.
Less, in any case, than Victor Wembanyama’s performance. Silver medalist at the Olympic Games with the French team this summer, Wembanyama made a lot of misses for his first match of the season (5 out of 18 shooting including 1 out of 8 from distance) and committed numerous turnovers ( 4), only managing to find the right rhythm at the end of the match.
Great first for Thompson
Despite his clumsiness, the French giant (2.24 m) finished the game with 17 points and 9 rebounds, thanks to two nice moves in the last quarter. “Wemby” was notably able to slam a dunk on an alley-oop from Chris Paul, a veteran All-Star point guard who arrived as a reinforcement this summer to help the young Spurs team progress.
On the Mavericks side, Klay Thompson made his debut with his new franchise. Arriving in Texas after fourteen seasons at the Golden State Warriors, Klay Thompson filled out his stats sheet well, with 22 points, including 6 out of 10 from distance. Clumsy in the first period (49-47 San Antonio at the break), the Mavericks then returned their shots from distance and easily broke away, in the wake of their Slovenian star Luka Doncic (28 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists), untenable between long shots and blind passes.
