Another day, another historical game for Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs came into tonight’s match-up against the struggling Washington Wizards looking for their third win in four games during this five-game home stand, and while the second unit gave up a couple of double-digit leads in the first and fourth quarter, they were built on the back of Wemby’s red-hot shooting, and the Spurs were able to hold on down the stretch to secure the 139-130 win.

Wemby scored a career-high 50 points with the help of another career-high of 8 threes on 15 attempts, along with 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. His big night actually overshadowed a similarly big one from Jordan Poole, who had 42 points and led the Wizards in their last-ditch comeback attempt to keep the game interesting down to the final seconds.

Observations

• In case you missed it, the Spurs announced earlier in the day that the medical episode Gregg Popovich suffered back on November 2 ahead of the Timberwolves game was a mild stroke. He is now in a rehabilitation program and is expected to make a full recovery, but there is no timeline for him to return. Pop and his family remain in our thoughts and prayers, and hopefully he can return to the sideline again.
• Jonas Valanciunas continued his Spurs-killer ways, recording a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds in just 10 minutes of action in the first half alone. Fortunately, he never got going in the second half as the Spurs pulled away.
• Sometimes Box Score plus/minus doesn’t lie, and that was the case in the first half. All the starters had a plus/minus ranging from +9 to +17, while everyone off the bench had a negative, double-digit plus/minus except Blake Wesley, who was at 0. That certainly passed the eye test, as the Spurs built an early 16-point lead before almost instantly giving it back up when the bench came in for the first time, and the teams played pretty even from there to end up tied 67 all at halftime.
• Wembanyama is on an absolute tear in this home stand, and it continued today. He had 24 points by halftime and didn’t slow down in the second half. For the third game in a row, he matched his career high for threes in a game (6) early in the third quarter — only to soon break it with another. Even though he attempted 15 threes (maybe he will keep taking them and break the franchise record after all), he made 8 of them. The real test will come when the Spurs return to the road on Saturday, as his splits between home and the road are night and day.
• One thing the Spurs did not do well in this game was protect leads. They came out of the gate hot from three early to build a 16-point lead in the first quarter, but bench blew it almost entirely, and the lead was down to one at the end of the first quarter. The Wizards would eventually take a lead of three a few times before a huge 26-7 Spurs run to end the third quarter. The Spurs then built the lead all the way to 21 in the fourth, but once again the Wizards began to chip away once Mitch Johnson went the bench, and the starters had to return with five minutes left to close things out. Credit to the Wizards for not giving up.
• To end on something the Spurs did well that they haven’t in past games: protect the ball. They only had nine turnovers, conceding just 4 points off them. On the other hand, the Wizards had 18 turnovers, giving up 20 points off them to the Spurs. It turns out, the Spurs needed every bit of that difference tonight.

For the Wizards fans perspective, visit Bullets Forever.

The Spurs will conclude their home stand on Friday for the NBA Emirates Cup opener against the Los Angeles Lakers. Tip-off will be at 6:30 PM CT on ESPN.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., second from left, applauds with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Richard Hudson, R-N.C., Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

For the better part of two decades, the Washington Capitals were among the best teams in the NHL and a lot of the success can be chalked up to the duo of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Unfortunately, it seems as though Backstrom won’t have much choice but to call it a career as injuries have forced him to the sideline for the final year of his contract.

Ovechkin on the other hand is still going strong as the Capitals’ captain and pacing to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record this season. What is keeping Ovechkin on pace for one of the game’s “unbreakable records” without his main setup guy in Backstrom?

Look no further than 27-year-old Dylan Strome. In the second year of a five-year contract, and third season with the Capitals, Strome is settling in quite nicely next to Ovechkin.

Strome recorded 42 and 40 assists in his first two years with the Capitals, but this year has been a different story. Through 14 games played, Strome has notched 18 helpers, good for fourth in the NHL.

With Strome hitting new strides in playmaking, he’s keeping Ovechkin on the right path to break Gretzky’s record. Ovechkin has 10 goals already and showing that last season’s slow start was just a fluke.

Not only is Ovechkin on a 59-goal pace, but each of his first 10 goals have been assisted by Strome.

That’s the kind of connection Ovechkin and Backstrom used to have before Backstrom was put on the shelf.

The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber notes that Strome and Backstrom have grown close over the last few seasons and occasional bond over being key centers for the sport’s greatest goal scorer.

“The two play golf together, and have had ‘a little bit’ of discussion here and there about being Ovechkin’s center.”

Backstrom spent 17 years with the Capitals and spent most of his time centering Ovechkin. In 1,105 total games played, Backstrom picked up 762 assists, 279 of which have come from Ovechkin goals.

As the injuries piled up for Backstrom, not only were the Capitals concerned about winning or losing hockey games, but it wasn’t certain Ovechkin would be able to continue trending toward the record. With Strome finding Ovechkin every chance he gets, not only is the goals record in sight, but the Capitals are still a winning team.

The Capitals hold a 10-4-0 record and are third in the Metropolitan Division. They snuck their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, but are looking to be real contenders this time around.

It might not be easy to replace Backstrom’s outstanding work next to Ovechkin, but Strome is certainly stepping up quite nicely.

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