After losing a tough game against the Utah Jazz this weekend, the San Antonio Spurs looked to start the new week on a strong note. While the Sacramento Kings were reeling in the second game of a back-to-back, the Spurs took advantage with a dominant 116-96 win.

Victor Wembanyama had one of his best games of the season with 34 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks. He was a deterrent in the paint all night, harassing shot after shot and making the Kings say “no” straight away on shots at the rim. Offensively, he was on fire, shooting 13-22 from the field and 6-12 from deep.

Wembanyama’s defensive effort was infectious. San Antonio’s defense smothered Sacramento, while the Kings shot 42.9% from the field and 27% from deep. The Spurs turned the ball over 18 times, allowing the Kings to score 26 points on their mistakes, but they made up for it with a hot shooting night. San Antonio shot 50.6% from the field and 47.8% from three.

The Spurs will face a pair of French phenoms in Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr when the Washington Wizards come to town on Wednesday the 13th.

Observations

• Stephon Castle is getting more and more comfortable with the NBA by the day. On Monday he had 10 points, 6 assists and a steal. He looks strong and confident going to the basket and starts hitting enough threes to get the defense to respect him from there. His poise as a rookie shouldn’t surprise anyone who saw him at UCONN last season, but is still quite rare for a first-year player.
• Wembanyama has made six three-pointers in his last two games. He generally shoots the ball better in San Antonio than on the road. Wemby is shooting 47.3% from the field and 37.5% from deep at home, while shooting 38% from the field and 20.5% from three on the road.
• Devin Vassell appears to be on a minutes restriction. He was fouled out late in the fourth quarter after playing 21 minutes, the same amount he played in his debut against Utah. Vassell had a hot stretch in the third quarter that lifted him to 12 points, including three deep balls.
• Sandro Mamukelashvili provided a spark and some shots from the bench. He had 9 points, all from deep, in his 16 minutes. He held his own defensively with some timely rotations and some good isolation possessions against the King’s wings.
• Julian Champagnie played his hundredth game for Spurs on Monday. He now has the most three-pointers in his first 100 games, with 159, of any undrafted player in Spurs history. Gary Neal previously held the record with 153.
• Chris Paul finished with 12 points and 11 assists in the win. It’s his 4th points-assist double-double at age 39 or older. John Stockton holds the record with 37 such games.