Victor Wembanyama scored a career-high 52 points, grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds and blocked eight shots, then sank the winning free throw with 24.2 seconds left as the San Antonio Spurs held off the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 on Wednesday night at Frost Bank Center.
A first half nobody has matched
The game looked over by halftime. Wembanyama had 29 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in the first half alone, becoming the first player to post at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a single half since the league’s play-by-play era began in 1996-97, according to the Associated Press. San Antonio led 68-51 at the break and stretched the margin to 19 points early in the third quarter. Wembanyama played 34 minutes and went 19 of 23 at the free throw line, a stat line built at both ends of the floor.
Dallas storms back
Dallas refused to fold. Kyrie Irving scored 29 points, Naji Marshall added 22 off the bench, P.J. Washington had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Cooper Flagg finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Mavericks erased the deficit piece by piece and took a 103-100 lead on a Washington three-pointer with 5:38 to play. When Marshall tied the game at 111 with a three-pointer with 1:41 remaining, San Antonio’s record night was suddenly one possession from becoming a collapse.
One free throw decides it
Wembanyama answered the way he had all night. Fouled in the closing seconds, he split a pair of free throws with 24.2 seconds left, and the second one stood as the final point of the game. Dallas called timeout and drew up a last play for Irving, whose contested turnaround jumper in the lane missed with 2.5 seconds left. Dylan Harper scored 21 points and Stephon Castle 17 for San Antonio, which won its sixth straight game to improve to 6-2. Dallas fell to 4-4 with its second consecutive defeat.
What it means
For the Spurs, this is the kind of win that changes how a young team is talked about: a blown 19-point lead, a hostile final minute, and a 22-year-old who decided the game at both ends anyway. For Dallas, the comeback still counts for something, with four players in double figures and a defense that finally slowed San Antonio after halftime, but the Mavericks leave San Antonio at .500 and still searching for a win against the West’s early pace-setters. The two teams’ seasons keep moving in opposite directions, a pattern also visible in Philadelphia’s win over Chicago this week, while the 76ers’ win over Detroit showed the same lesson: in this league right now, no lead is safe.
Sources: Reuters and the Associated Press game reports, November 4-5, 2026, with supporting box score details from USA Today and Agence France-Presse.