SI:AM | Victor Wembanyama Gets the Better of Chet Holmgren in Highly Anticipated Showdown

It lived up to the hype.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’ve been eagerly waiting for Dune: Part Two for over two years now. This weekend is showtime.

In today’s SI:AM:

✋ Wemby bests Chet

???? CFP “cowardice”

⛹️‍♀️ Caitlin Clark goes pro

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Battle of the unicorns

The future of the NBA was on display last night in San Antonio as Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren squared off for the third time—and it lived up to the hype.

Holmgren’s Oklahoma City Thunder won the first two matchups handily (123–87 on Nov. 14 and 140–114 on Jan. 24), but Wemby and the San Antonio Spurs came away with an impressive 132–118 win last night. Most notably, though, while the two leading Rookie of the Year candidates had struggled in their first two matchups, both were on top of their game last night.

Holmgren had 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting, with seven rebounds, five assists and a block. Wembanyama had 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting (5-of-7 from three), with 13 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and two steals. Wemby is the first player in NBA history to put up those stats in a game. Watch the game’s highlights here.

It was thrilling to see Holmgren and Wembanyama go head-to-head, two basketball unicorns combining size and skill in ways we haven’t seen before. It was the first of what should be many exciting duels in the years to come.

The game’s best moment came late in the fourth quarter when Wemby hit a dagger three with 2:11 to play that stretched the San Antonio lead to 127–118. Then, on the ensuing Thunder possession, Wembanyama blocked Holmgren’s step-back attempt. “Blocked” is putting it mildly. Wemby reacted so quickly that he stuffed Holmgren’s shot before it even left his hand. Here’s a closer look. It’s safe to say Holmgren has never been blocked like that before—at least not since he grew over 7 feet tall. His tremendous length and soft shooting touch make a shot attempt like that a smart one under almost any circumstance. But not when Wembanyama is defending him.

The two rookies have a lot in common. Both are tall and lanky (Holmgren is listed at 7' 1", 195 pounds, while Wembanyama is 7' 4", 209 pounds) and move very fluidly for men their size. Their most notable shared trait is their ability to play on the perimeter at that size. There are also differences, though. For example, Holmgren is more comfortable putting the ball on the floor and driving to the basket, and Wembanyama is the better defender.

However, Holmgren plays for one of the best teams in the league, while Wembanyama’s Spurs are downright dreadful. OKC has stockpiled draft picks to assemble a fantastic core of talented young players. All five of its starters are 25 or younger. The Spurs are also young (their oldest starter is 24), but while Holmgren is part of a strong core that includes MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and breakout star Jalen Williams, San Antonio’s roster is Wembanyama and not much else of value. It’s likely the only other member of this Spurs team that will be kept around for the long haul is Devin Vassell, whose five-year $135 million contract extension kicks in next season. Eventually, the Spurs will build a winning team around Wembanyama, and those four annual meetings with Holmgren and the Thunder are appointment viewing.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• It’s a big weekend in college basketball and Kevin Sweeney broke down the most important men’s games on the schedule.
• Now that it’s March, it’s time for Purdue to vanquish its previous tournament disappointments, Pat Forde writes.
• Forde on the “next-level cowardice” of the latest proposed changes to the College Football Playoff.
• Stephanie Apstein spoke to several of Shohei Ohtani’s teammates about the Japanese star’s sudden revelation that he got married.
• Caitlin Clark announced yesterday that she will forgo her fifth year of eligibility and enter the WNBA draft. Emma Baccellieri has more on that decision and what awaits Clark in the pros.
• Fewer and fewer football folks are attending the NFL combine, Albert Breer writes, including the Chiefs, who have already pulled their staffers out of Indianapolis.
• Marvin Harrison Jr. no-showed his scheduled press conference at the NFL combine.
• Anthony Kim shot a six-over 76 in his first pro tournament round in 12 years. His day included this really terrible shank.
• The NFL is reportedly exploring the possibility of replacing the chain gang with optical ball tracking.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Trent Frederic’s perfect lead pass to set up a Morgan Geekie goal. (Geekie went on to record a hat trick.)

4. Juraj Slafkovsky’s game-tying goal off the faceoff with 0.7 seconds left in the second period.

3. Austin Reaves’s tough game-tying shot for the Lakers in the final seconds of the fourth quarter against the Wizards. L.A. won in overtime.

2. Peyton Watson’s hilariously failed breakaway dunk attempt.

1. This vicious dunk by Nebraska’s Juwan Gary.

SIQ

On this day in 1996, which coach became the first in NBA history to record 1,000 career wins?

• Lenny Wilkens
• George Karl
• Phil Jackson
• Larry Brown

Friday’s SIQ: Early baseball player Dickey Pearce, who was born on Feb. 29, 1836, is credited with introducing what now-common element of the game?

• The overhand throw
• Sliding into bases
• Wearing a hat
• The bunt

Answer: The bunt. Not only did Pearce pioneer the practice of bunting, he also developed the various strategic ways to deploy the bunt, like sacrifice and squeeze plays.

“Yes, I was the first to introduce the bunt hit,” Pearce told the Boston Globe in 1905, three years before he died. “While with the [Brooklyn] Atlantics, in ’67, the idea came to me, and I figured out just how a ball would bound when met from different angles. First I practiced bunting, then hitting the ball on top so that it would carom from the fair ground to the ground back of third base.”