Victor Wembanyama had a full match during the Spurs' success over the Clippers, while Cleveland spoiled the first meeting played as a forty-year-old by LeBron James on Tuesday in the NBA.
Wemby extinguishes the Clippers
The San Antonio Spurs finished the year with a crushing victory (122-86) at home over the Los Angeles Clippers, thanks to another great performance from Victor Wembanyama. The French prodigy capped off a memorable December with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists, a steal and three blocked shots in less than 26 minutes on the court. His 17 points in the first quarter matched the total scored by the Clippers in that period. Opposite, James Harden (17 points) and Norman Powell (15 points, five rebounds) barely survived. Nicolas Batum, the Clippers' French winger, did not score a single point in thirteen minutes spent on the floor. The Spurs have a positive record of 17 wins against 16 losses. They occupy ninth place in the West and can dream of the play-offs if they continue their momentum in 2025.
Cleveland wins at Lakers
Leader of the Eastern Conference, Cleveland inflicted its first defeat as a forty-year-old on LeBron James, during the success obtained away from the Lakers (122-110). Jarrett Allen scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell added 26 points and Evan Mobley 20 points for the Cavaliers, who won their eighth straight and improved their record to 29-4. James, who won four NBA titles, including one in 2016 with Cleveland, near his hometown of Akron, scored 23 points, with four rebounds, seven assists and a blocked shot. It was his first game since his 40th birthday on Monday, and he became the first player in NBA history to play a game in the league at both 18 and 40 years old. Austin Reaves led the Lakers with an impressive near-triple-double of 35 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists.
Teammate Anthony Davis scored 28 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, but after taking a lead twice in the second quarter, the Lakers found themselves trailing by five points at halftime and never again took the lead in the second half.
Boston crushes Toronto
At home, the defending champion Boston was merciless against the Toronto Raptors (125-71), who suffered their eleventh defeat in a row. This gap of 54 points is the second largest in the history of the Celtics, just behind the 56 points of a triumph on the floor of the Chicago Bulls (133-77) in December 2018. Jayson Tatum scored 18 of his 23 points in the third quarter, when the Celtics outscored the Raptors 45-18 to put the game beyond the visitors' reach for good. Payton Pritchard scored 19 points coming off the bench, and Jaylen Brown (12 points) shined more in the paint with nine rebounds.
The Celtics, beaten in four of their previous six meetings, made 22 of their 43 three-point attempts. “There are still things we need to work on… we just need to continue to improve,” said their coach Joe Mazzulla.
