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

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

Observations

• In case you missed it, the Spurs announced earlier in the day that the medical episode Gregg Popovich suffered on Nov. 2 prior to 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 his return. Pop and his family remain in our thoughts and prayers, and hopefully he can return to the sidelines.

• 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 didn’t get going again in the second half as Spurs pulled away.
• Sometimes Box Score plus/minus doesn’t lie, and that was the case in the first half. All 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 Spurs built a 16-point lead early on before relinquishing it almost immediately when the bench came in for the first time, and the teams played fairly evenly from then on to eventually tie at half-time to finish tied for 67.
• Wembanyama has been on an absolute tear in this homestand, and that continued today. He had 24 points at halftime and did not slow down in the second half. For the third game in a row, he tied his career-high for threes in a game (6) early in the third quarter, but soon broke it with another. Although he attempted 15 threes (maybe he’ll continue to take them and still break the franchise record), he made eight. The real test will come when Spurs return to the road on Saturday, as his splits between home and away are night and day.
• One thing the Spurs didn’t do well in this game was protect leads. They came out of the gate early from three o’clock and built a 16-point lead in the first quarter, but the bench almost completely ruined it, and the lead was down to one by 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 ended the third quarter. The Spurs then built the lead to 21 in the fourth, but again the Wizards started to pull away when Mitch Johnson went to the bench, and the starters had to return with five minutes left to close things out. Thanks to the Wizards for not giving up.
• To end with something Spurs have done well that they haven’t done in previous games: protect the ball. They had just nine turnovers and gave up just four points. On the other hand, the Wizards had 18 turnovers, giving up 20 points to the Spurs. It turns out that Spurs needed all that difference tonight.

For the Wizards fans’ perspective, visit Bullets Forever.

The Spurs wrap up their home NBA Emirates Cup opener against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Tip-off is at 6:30 PM CT on ESPN.