Wembanyama takes .5 seconds to stunt on Gobert in clash of French bigs

Victor Wembanyama seems to have found his groove. After his 25-point 5x5 performance a couple of nights ago against the Utah Jazz, fans were hoping it was the start of seeing the franchise player play like everyone knows he can.

It looks like that's the case since he's come out hooping on the Timberwolves, knocking down post-up fadeaways, throwing down explosive dunks, and doing this to the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert.

When you're 7'4" and you can do things like this, you'll make most players look silly trying to defend you, but doing it to the DPOY makes it that much sweeter. The fact that Gobert is a friend of Wemby's has to make it special for him, but for the Silver and Black faithful, we just like seeing big on big crime when our guy is the assailant.

Wembanyama is also making defensive statements

Everyone knew coming in the Alien would be ready to make his presence felt immediately on the defensive end when he entered the NBA. Nobody thought he would end his rookie campaign as the runner-up for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

He's entered his sophomore season as the overwhelming favorite to win the honor this time around, and Minnesota can tell you why. The Spurs went into halftime leading the T-Wolves 62-57, and Wemby is a major reason for that.

Keldon Johnson's 15 points on an efficient 6/8 has been a welcome addition to the party, and Chris Paul's 12 points and eight assists have been a beautiful sight to behold. But Minnesota was in the Western Conference Finals last season for a reason. They are an immensely talented team, and Anthony Edwards has the potential to go nuclear—something he began to do in the first quarter.

When it comes down to it, the defense has once again started to take hold. They've only turned the ball over five times, preventing easy points on fast-break opportunities. It's allowed San Antonio to set up their defense, and Victor has thrived, deterring drives to the basket, guarding the perimeter on switches, and accumulating two blocks—both demonstrative rejections on Rudy Gobert.

At halftime, Wembanyama has 11 points on 50% shooting to go with his defensive performance. He's yet to get that elusive dunk on Gobert that he so highly covets, but there's still plenty of time left in this game to see that happen.