Wembanyama's blaring statement is crystal clear amid clutch performance

A tale of two halves was on full display in San Antonio's win over the Timberwolves, but getting the win was all that mattered in the end. There are plenty of players who deserve credit for ensuring the Timberwolves didn't sweep the three-game season series between them, but we're going to focus on the man who stopped the game from slipping away when it hung in the balance.

Wemby will not fold under pressure

The Spurs withstood a 55-point barrage from Anthony Edwards largely because Victor Wembanyama refused to lose to this team a third time. He went toe-to-toe with one of the league's most promising young superstars when he was at his best and won. His 39 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks were just enough, but what's more important is how the last flurry came and why it was necessary.

This isn't coach-speak. The Alien is built for the big-time moments of the game when the team needs a bucket, a stop, or a play to be made. Not everyone can shine in those high-pressure moments, but he'll thrive. Nights like this are filled with encrypted messages for the league to decipher, but this isn't the Tomb Raider. The statement here is clear as day. "Yes. I'm clutch, too. So, you're really screwed."

We're talking about a 7'5" defensive demon who transcends that side of the floor. But he can also give you 39 points with post-ups, pull-up jumpers, catch-and-shoot buckets, catch lobs, shoot fadeaways... You get the point. On top of all of that, he's a dawg in the clutch.

The signs Wemby was clutch were always there

When Vic rattled off 17 points in three minutes as a rookie in the third quarter against the Nuggets, it swung momentum. The Spurs won a game that Denver needed for playoff seeding, and it was one of several moments in which the Frenchman with an 8-foot wingspan showed how capable of greatness he was. But the expectations for the team to win were fairly low.

Things are different now. San Antonio has proven themselves to be a force, and teams around the league are taking them seriously. With the second-best record in the Western Conference halfway through the season, everyone expects them to win games.

The underdog mentality is a powerful thing, and when you can't tap into it anymore, all you have is your will as a unit. Will you come together and do what's necessary to win games, or will you fold under the expectations? It's really as simple as that in layman's terms, but in practice, the pressure can weigh you down like a piano on your back.

For someone so thin, that weight doesn't seem to bother Vic. He'll hit a game-sealing jumper on the Celtics in Boston or size Nikola Vucevic up for a pull-up three to help win the game. He'll make a massive block on Joan Beringer or whatever else he needs to do to help the Spurs pull out the game.

That's the heart of a legend in the making. Tim Duncan put San Antonio on the map; Victor Wembanyama is about to blow up the map entirely. The Spurs will soon be the center of the basketball world because of him, and the rest of the NBA gets to catch hell in the process.