Wembanyama's legendary Paris game ties Tim Duncan on an impressive list

Victor showed France's fans a good time.

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BASKET-NBA-FRA-PACERS-SPURS | FRANCK FIFE/GettyImages

The San Antonio Spurs slammed their brakes, stopping a nasty 3-game skid in the middle of a daunting schedule threatening to derail their promising season. They took down a surging Pacers team with relative ease (140-110), separating themselves in the fourth quarter enough to sit the starters in the final minutes of the game.

It was one of the most impressive victories of the season for this ball club. All it took was a trip to Paris for all of San Antonio's most important players to play their best at the same time. Victor Wembanyama led the way with another ridiculous stat line, and this one slots him right next to Tim Duncan on a list with other legends.

Only NBA greats have reached this stat line this many times

Wemby finished the game with 30 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and five blocks. The other players on this list are Hakeem Olajuwon (12), Shaquille O'Neal (11), David Robinson (11), and Joel Embiid (4). These are all MVPs who are in the Hall-of-Fame or will be one day.

I'm sure people will have opinions about Joel Embiid making it to the HOF, but he's done enough to make it as an MVP and Olympic Gold Medalist, but I digress.

Wembanyama making it to fifth on this list in his second season shows the kind of trajectory this kid is on. He'll blow by everyone on it at this rate, and these are some of the best players we've ever seen play the game.

The Pacers were at his mercy all game long, as the Alien did whatever he wanted. He was 13/21 from the floor, and whether he wanted to score or set a teammate up for a bucket, there wasn't much Indiana could do to stop it.

Devin Vassell has continued his hot shooting, going 9/13 from the floor for 25 points. He shot 5/6 from 3-point range, grabbed three boards, and dished four assists, but his defense was stellar. The fifth-year guard stole two possessions from Indy and blocked a couple of shots.

He started the game guarding Pascal Siakam, who's a 6'8", two-time all-star with a 7'3" wingspan, and he made him work. The defensive effort across the board was great, and Vassell played as large of a role as anyone in that.

Harrison Barnes had another virtuoso, scoring 20 points on 9/10 shots. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle will undoubtedly have conversations with his team about that. It's difficult for any team to win a game when their opponent shoots a 60% field goal percentage overall while sniping at 50% from three and 100% from the free throw line, though.

Yeah. That's what San Antonio did today in the same Accor Arena where Wemby won a Silver Medal after losing an epic battle with Team USA in the Paris Olympics. They'll see Indiana again for round two on Saturday, where they'll be looking to sweep the season series for the second time in three years.

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