Doncic shines on Wembanyama’s debut in NBA

The highly-anticipated debut of Victor Wembanyama was put to one side after a solid performance from the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, who won 119-126 on the night against the San Antonio Spurs.

Last night was the official welcome of a Frenchman who many suspect may dominate the scene for the next ten to twenty years. His name is Victor Wembanyama, surely you have heard of him: a 224cm tall man who can raise his arms to heights nobody else can before slipping the ball through his legs in the lead up to scoring from way behind the 3-point line.

The number 1 draft pick will be under the orders of Gregg Popovich in San Antonio in order to achieve his full potential, but some welcomes are tough, especially at the highest level of the game. Whatever your name is, however tall you are, it doesn’t guarantee you win in elite sport.

Dallas Mavericks’ plan worked to perfection

The Mavericks set up to win the game by pressuring the young star from Le Chesnay in order to force mistakes from the beginning. And it worked. His game ended up being silenced after being pressed and pushed through the Kidd meat grinder, squashed and suppressed, making his chances to get the win on such a highly anticipated day in NBA almost nil.

Doncic lead the Dallas side with a triple-double (33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists), and it was a last-minute decision as to whether or not he was able to play. Problems in his left leg from preseason meant that a choice had to be made: play and stop the new kid or risk missing out on his quality. Despite being tired - something he openly admitted to on TV - it did not stop Doncic from doing his thing, that Doncic thing, winning the game. Just what Wemby would’ve liked to do, driving his team onto the victory.

A lack of confidence from Wemby?

The Spurs looked dangerous in attack and in a horrendous end to the game they saw chances go begging, not taking advantage of the momentary opportunity to strike. The losing side kept up the level for the entire match, even covering the gap that the man made in Nanterre, Lyon and Paris had left, but a cooler head was missing in the decisive moments of the tie.

The pivot was in the starting side and formed a pair with Zach Collins, taking on the weight of the attack at the beginning, but the Mavs bore through him. But 15 points, together with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, two steals and a block in just 23 minutes of play, that was the key. The most promising rookie since LeBron James looked nervous and lacking in confidence given the huge sense of anticipation and pressure on his albeit very tall shoulders meaning the visitors to the Frost Bank Center were left a little, ahem, cold after seeing the result. The Mavericks were cunning, quick in their decisions and correct at all times, taking advantage of the smell of blood to get their first win of the season away from home.

San Antonio Spurs

Stats

26 Dominick Barlow
28 Charles Bassey
22 Malaki Branham
30 Julian Champagnie
23 Zach Collins
4 Devonte' Graham
3 Keldon Johnson
33 Tre Jones
54 Sandro Mamukelashvili
17 Doug McDermott
16 Cedi Osman
10 Jeremy Sochan
24 Devin Vassell
1 Victor Wembanyama
14 Blake Wesley

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
26 Dominick Barlow	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
28 Charles Bassey	13	2	5	1	4	2	1	1	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	0	0
22 Malaki Branham	17	7	2	0	2	2	1	1	0	1/1	3/4	0/3	0	1	0
30 Julian Champagnie	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
23 Zach Collins	31	14	5	1	4	3	3	1	2	2/2	6/6	0/4	0	4	0
4 Devonte' Graham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Keldon Johnson	31	17	9	2	7	7	3	0	0	2/3	6/12	1/3	0	4	0
33 Tre Jones	25	16	5	1	4	6	1	0	0	4/4	3/4	2/3	0	0	0
54 Sandro Mamukelashvili	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
17 Doug McDermott	10	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	1	0
16 Cedi Osman	22	12	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0/0	3/4	2/6	0	2	0
10 Jeremy Sochan	28	13	8	3	5	5	3	1	0	3/6	2/8	2/4	0	4	0
24 Devin Vassell	35	23	5	1	4	3	2	2	0	4/5	8/11	1/6	0	2	0
1 Victor Wembanyama	23	15	5	0	5	2	5	2	1	0/1	3/4	3/5	0	5	0
14 Blake Wesley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Dallas Mavericks

Stats

30 Seth Curry
77 Luka Doncic
0 Dante Exum
8 Josh Green
10 Tim Hardaway Jr.
1 Jaden Hardy
20 Richaun Holmes
11 Kyrie Irving
55 Derrick Jones Jr.
42 Maxi Kleber
2 Dereck Lively II
88 Markieff Morris
7 Dwight Powell
18 Olivier-Maxence Prosper
3 Grant Williams

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
30 Seth Curry	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
77 Luka Doncic	34	33	13	1	12	10	4	2	0	4/7	10/14	3/11	0	1	0
0 Dante Exum	7	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1/1	1/1	0/1	0	1	0
8 Josh Green	29	11	2	2	0	1	0	1	0	3/4	1/3	2/2	0	4	0
10 Tim Hardaway Jr.	27	17	6	2	4	4	1	1	0	4/4	2/4	3/10	0	0	0
1 Jaden Hardy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
20 Richaun Holmes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
11 Kyrie Irving	36	22	2	0	2	6	2	1	0	1/1	9/16	1/8	0	3	0
55 Derrick Jones Jr.	11	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	1/2	0/1	0/2	0	0	0
42 Maxi Kleber	23	6	7	2	5	2	0	0	1	0/0	0/2	2/5	0	3	0
2 Dereck Lively II	30	16	10	5	5	1	1	1	1	2/3	7/8	0/0	0	4	0
88 Markieff Morris	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
7 Dwight Powell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
18 Olivier-Maxence Prosper	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Grant Williams	35	17	6	1	5	0	3	0	1	1/1	2/3	4/8	0	4	0