David Robinson couldn’t do it. Tim Duncan couldn’t do it. Duncan couldn’t even do it when paired with Robinson, or with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard.
San Antonio had never started a season 5-0, that was until Victor Wembanyama and this year’s young Spurs defeated the Heat 107-101 Thursday night.
Miami made it a game with a 17-1 fourth-quarter run that had them in the lead for a minute in the fourth, but then Wembanyama and Devin Vassell drained back-to-back 3-pointers to restore order. Wembanyama had 27 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocks on the night.
“It feels great,” [Wembanyama said to reporters postgame](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46788897/victor-wembanyama-leads-spurs-franchise-first-5-0-start). “It’s not random. We didn’t get those five wins randomly. We worked for it. We started this season strong, and we need to keep that streak going for as long as possible.”
It’s wild to think that during the Spurs Duncan/Gregg Popovich era run — five NBA titles, 22-straight playoff appearances, 18 consecutive 50+ win seasons (a number that would have gotten to 20 if not for a lockout) — they never started 5-0. In his third season, Wembanyama has the Spurs there, and this team doesn’t even have All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox healthy and on the court yet.
What should scare the league on Halloween: The top-four scorers on this Spurs team are 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama, 20-year-old Stephon Castle (he turns 21 on Saturday), 19-year-old rookie Dylan Harper, and the “old man” Devin Vassell at age 25. This team is young, really just starting to figure it out, and only going to get better.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 31 points and 10 boards, and reminded the young upstart center that this “old man” can still get to the rim and throw it down with the best of them.