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For a second straight game, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama enjoyed a career night from three-point range. Two days after hitting a personal NBA high six shots from beyond the arc, the generational talent equaled that feat in a 20-point win vs. the Sacramento Kings.
“A change for sure is that I'm taking less threes and taking better threes, I think,” Wemby said of a second straight night that broke his struggles from three-point land to start the season.
“Of course, it's feeling better. I'm 20 (years old). I hope that for some years I'm going to keep feeling better and better. There's no reason for me to feel worse.”
Victor Wembanyama's three-point mastery proves contagious
The 7-foot-5 center went 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in a 111-110 loss to the Utah Jazz in the Spurs previous game. He took three more threes in the 116-96 victory vs. the Kings.
Unlike Saturday, the Spurs followed Wemby's lead.
As a team, they shot higher than 50% from beyond the arc for the better part of the contest and finished just under the half-a-century percentage mark from three-point range.
Devin Vassell went 3-of-5 from downtown in his second game of the season as he returns from foot surgery. Sandro Mamukelashvili also went 3-of-5 from long distance. Keldon Johnson hit one of the two treys he took while Zach Collins hit the only triple he attempted.
“I think it's one of those nights where we got back to our strengths when we needed points,” Wembanyama said.
Rookie Stephon Castle, who continues to impress, and veteran Chris Paul both went 2-of-5 from beyond the arc.
The Spurs hit 22 of the 46 three-pointers they took.
“We knew who to go back to. Devin had a good stretch,” Wemby added in mentioning the second-leading scorer on the team last year.
Vassell scored 12 in Monday's win vs. Sacramento after putting up 21 in his debut two nights prior.
“Everybody was really in their role and made great shots. We're going to get rewarded for making the right plays,” Wemby concluded.
Three-point shooting a priority for Spurs
Newly acquired Harrison Barnes scored 10 points in his first meeting against his old team. He hit half of the shots he took, including 1-of-3 from behind the three-point line.
“The biggest thing is you have to shoot them in order to make them and I think manufacturing good threes is something that we've had a focus on in the off-season and then just translating into the season,” the 13th-year forward who's also played for the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks continued.
“Sometimes they fall, sometimes they won't, but at least as they're good quality shots and we'll continue to take them.”
“He's a great shooter. I've never doubted his ability in terms of shooting, in terms of playing,” Barnes said of Wembanyama before he pivoted back to the team. “For us, it's just continuing to take those shots, even when we're not making them.”
The Spurs have won two of their last three to get back within a game of .500 11 games into 2024-'25.
“Obviously, early in the season, we kind of struggled shooting a little bit, but it's just continuing to take shots, continuing to be confident and they'll start falling.”
