Victor Wembanyama scores career-high 40 points in San Antonio Spurs victory

Los Angeles (Agencies): Victor Wembanyama hit a career-high 40 points, including a big three-pointer with one minute and 12 seconds to play in overtime, as the San Antonio Spurs held off the visiting New York Knicks.

The Spurs came through 130-126 despite New York’s Jalen Brunson hitting 61 points – a career high.

He missed the Knicks’ single-game scoring record, held by Carmelo Anthony since 2014, by one point.

Wembanyama also had 20 rebounds and seven assists.

The 20-year-old Frenchman’s haul saw him become the first rookie to record a 40-point, 20-rebound game since Shaquille O’Neal had 46 and 21 in 1993.
He hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.

His overtime three-pointer made it 128-124 and although Mitchell Robinson cut the gap to two, Brunson missed a three-pointer with five seconds left and the Knicks threw away the rebound before two Tre Jones free throws extended the winning margin.

Elsewhere, Bam Adebayo managed 21 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in just three quarters to lead hosts Miami Heat to a comfortable 142-82 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers – their largest-ever winning margin.

Miami had 26 points and 11 rebounds from reserve Thomas Bryant while Jimmy Butler managed eight points and eight assists in 25 minutes after missing the previous game because of illness.

Anthony Edwards had 25 points while Rudy Gobert finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 111-98 to move into a tie for first place in the Western Conference.

Mike Conley scored 23 points and Jaden McDaniels 17 for the Timberwolves, who have won four in a row despite Karl-Anthony Towns’ absence after surgery on his left knee.

Nikola Jokic had 32 points and 10 rebounds and Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr scored 14 each for the Nuggets, who have lost two in a row at home for the first time this season and slip to third in the West, behind Minnesota and the Oklahoma City Thunder.