{"id":660063,"date":"2026-05-09T15:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660063\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T15:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:43:11","slug":"39-points-15-rebounds-five-blocks-wembanyama-makes-more-nba-playoff-history-for-spurs-victor-wembanyama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660063\/","title":{"rendered":"39 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks: Wembanyama makes more NBA playoff history for Spurs | Victor Wembanyama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Wembanyama plays with an agility and a gracefulness beneath his daunting wingspan that can make his dominance for the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> on both ends of the floor appear almost effortless.<\/p>\n

Fresh cuts and bruises on those long arms after fighting for paint position and jockeying for rebounds all night with the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> made clear Wembanyama had to put in plenty of work to compile 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in a 115-108 victory in Game 3 on Friday that gave the Spurs a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semi-final series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cThey\u2019re Wolves, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Highlight video of Victor Wembanyama\u2019s Game 3 against the Timberwolves<\/p>\n

The Spurs stayed unbeaten on the road in this postseason with their first win in a truly close game, after four victories in the first round over the Portland Trail Blazers with margins between 12 and 21 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just continue showing growth,\u201d coach Mitch Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Starting with Wembanyama. The 22-year-old French phenom in his first NBA<\/a> postseason has played in just seven playoff games, but he has wasted no time writing quite a legacy.<\/p>\n

The only other players in NBA history to hit the 35-point, 15-rebound, five-block thresholds in a playoff game? Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O\u2019Neal. And only Wembanyama has now done it while shooting better than 70% from the floor. The 7ft 4in star was 13 for 18 \u2013 and 10 for 12 from the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be along with the big fellas,\u201d said Wembanyama, who credited Olajuwon for teaching him a spin fadeaway he sank over his mentor Rudy Gobert during a 16-point fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama set an NBA postseason record<\/a> with 12 blocked shots in the series opener, but he lamented his lack of impact on offense after the 104-102 loss to the Wolves on Monday. He stormed out of the gate for Game 2 by immediately asserting his dominance on both ends of the floor that sparked the Spurs to a 133-95 victory on Wednesday, and the travel north did nothing to stem that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a world-class defender. You\u2019re always aware of him,\u201d Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu said. \u201cYeah, he\u2019s a gift at that end of the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

De\u2019Aaron Fox scored 17 points for the Spurs, and Stephon Castle had 13 points and 12 assists with a team-high plus-17 rating. Anthony Edwards had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Naz Reid added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves. Minnesota will host Game 4 on Sunday night before the series shifts to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks 108-94 Philadelphia 76ersJalen Brunson and the Knicks are one win away from a trip to the conference finals. Photograph: Matt Slocum\/AP<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and sealed the game with big buckets late to the delight of roaring Knicks fans, leading New York to a 108-94 win over the host Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> for a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

The Knicks took turns taking the fight out of the Sixers in the fourth quarter, turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory.<\/p>\n

Josh Hart had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks and first-year coach Mike Brown within one victory of their second straight conference finals appearance.<\/p>\n

The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who\u2019s averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.<\/p>\n

Joel Embiid scored 18 points for the Sixers in his return after he missed Game 2 with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama plays with an agility and a gracefulness beneath his daunting wingspan that can make his dominance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-660063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}