Wemby shines but Spurs yield to Kings
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Star rookie Victor Wembanyama put on a show, but his San Antonio Spurs slumped to a seventh straight defeat on Friday, Nov. 17, with the Sacramento Kings knocking them out of the NBA'S new in-season tournament with a 129-120 triumph.
De'aaron Fox matched his career high with 43 points, adding eight rebounds and seven assists for the Kings, who weathered a series of San Antonio scoring spurts to seal the win.
After scoring just eight points in a 36-point loss to Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Wembanyama scored 27 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Wembanyama impressed with an array of shots that included an alley-oop dunk on which his head threatened to hit the backboard.
Zach Collins scored 28 for the Spurs, who roared to an 18-point lead in the first quarter but couldn't keep pace in a fourth quarter that saw Fox deliver 14 points as Wembanyama was held to six.
A game of multiple momentum shifts saw the Spurs close within 112111 midway through the fourth, but the Kings responded with a 7-0 scoring run and held on.
Now 3-9,
the Spurs fell to 0-3 in group play in the league's new Cup-style tournament -- out of the running for a quarterfinal berth.
In other tournament games on Friday -- which also count in the regular-season standings -- Zion Williamson scored 26 points and the New Orleans Pelicans withstood a Nikola Jokic triple-double in a 115110 victory over the NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
Brandon Ingram added 21 points for New Orleans. He and Williamson each made a pair of buckets in an 8-0 scoring run that saw the Pelicans pull away after Denver closed within one point with 4:01 to play.
Jokic scored 26 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and matched his career high with 18 assists.
The Nuggets, still without injured Jamal Murray, never led. But they battled back from a 20-point thirdquarter deficit to give themselves a chance in the final period.
Down by three with less than a minute remaining, the Nuggets came up empty on three straight three-point attempts on the same possession and the Pelicans escaped with the win.
In Toronto, Boston guard Derrick White drained a go-ahead threepointer with 27.5 seconds left as the Celtics held off the hard-charging Raptors 108-105.
Jaylen Brown scored 23 points, Jayson Tatum added 17 and Kristaps Porzingis chipped in 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who are 2-0 in tournament play and improved to 10-2 in the regular season standings -- still leading the Eastern Conference by one game from the Philadelphia 76ers, who beat the Atlanta Hawks 126-116.
Pascal Siakam and Dennis Schroder scored 23 points apiece for the Raptors. Scottie Barnes had a chance to tie it with 11.4 seconds left but couldn't get his three-pointer to drop.
In Atlanta, 76ers star Joel Embiid -questionable to start because of a sore hip -- scored 32 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Tobias Harris added a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds and Tyrese Maxey finished with 19 points for Philadelphia, who ended a two-game losing streak.
In Charlotte, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard scored 27 points to lead seven Bucks players in double figures in a 130-99 victory over the Hornets.
Malik Beasley added 20 points and Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a one-game injury absence to score 16 points with eight rebounds and nine assists in Milwaukee's thirdstraight victory.
The Bucks connected on 22 of 45 three-pointers to withstand a 37-point night from Charlotte's Lamelo Ball.