The two hottest teams in the Western Conference both kept rolling on Monday night. San Antonio made it nine victories on the trot, and the Los Angeles Lakers, still top of the West, stretched their own run to six.
Victor Wembanyama hardly needed to break sweat in Phoenix. In just 25 minutes on court the Frenchman piled up 40 points, missing only four of his 19 attempts, pulled down 11 rebounds and swatted away nine shots as the Spurs crushed the Suns 122-96. Only days earlier he had set a career high of 52. Afterwards he said rivals were struggling to find anything he could not answer, so the main task now was to avoid beating himself. That lifts the Spurs to nine wins against two defeats.
In Atlanta, Luka Dončić filled every column of the stat sheet as the Lakers won 124-114: 32 points and 10 assists, plus eight boards, five steals and a couple of blocks. With Austin Reaves ill and Quentin Grimes injured, the Slovenian spent most of the night as the only real ball-handler, which coach JJ Redick admitted was “taxing”. The bench picked up the slack, Sandro Mamukelashvili scoring 23 with five threes in what his coach rated as his finest outing for the club. The Lakers’ record now reads ten wins and only two losses.
Golden State, too, are on a tear. Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski each contributed 25 in a 138-87 demolition of New Orleans, the Warriors’ eighth win in a row. Over in Dallas, rookie Cooper Flagg poured in 43, scoring 30 in the second half alone, as the Mavericks squeezed past the Pacers 125-122.
Not everyone enjoyed the night. Nikola Jokić produced 25 points and 16 rebounds, yet Denver still went down 110-100 in Houston.
