SAN ANTONIO, US — Victor Wembanyama had 40 points and 13 rebounds in his 65th game to become eligible for NBA awards, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks, 139-120, on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
De’Aaron Fox had 18 points and 10 assists and Keldon Johnson had 17 points for San Antonio.
Rookie Cooper Flagg had 33 points, six rebounds and five assists for Dallas, which has lost 11 of 13.
After opening the season with a 40-point game against Dallas, Wembanyama reached 40 for the fifth time in what could be his regular-season finale.
The NBA requires a minimum of 65 games played to be eligible for season-long awards and Wembanyama got there in San Antonio’s penultimate game.
The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama, who leads the league with 197 blocks, is favored to win Defensive Player of the Year, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
He missed Wednesday’s 112-101 victory over Portland after suffering a left rib contusion during the first half of Monday’s 115-102 win over Philadelphia.
Wembanyama quickly showed he was fine by stepping through three defenders to throw down a right-handed dunk to open the scoring. He added another dunk and a step-back 3-pointer while scoring 16 points in the opening period.
The Spurs won the Southwest Division for the first time since 2017 and have secured the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. San Antonio opens the postseason against a team that makes it through the play-in tournament — either Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers or Portland.
San Antonio closes its regular season at home Sunday against Denver.
Meanwhile, the Washington Wizards clinched the worst record in the NBA with a 140-117 loss to the Miami Heat.
Washington (17-64) has lost nine in a row and 25 of its last 26 to tumble to the bottom of the standings.
The Wizards became the first NBA team to lose 64 games in three consecutive seasons. The Vancouver Grizzlies lost at least 63 games in each of their first three seasons from 1995-96 to 1997-98, while the Process-era Philadelphia 76ers matched that futility from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
Simone Fontecchio and Pelle Larsson both scored 24 points for the Heat (42-39), who had lost 10 of 13. Miami scored an average of 143.5 points while going 4-0 against Washington this season.
The Heat are already assured a fourth consecutive trip to the play-in tournament.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo had 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. He scored 83 points, the second-most in NBA history, against Washington on March 10 and averaged 34.8 points against the Wizards this season.
Miami used a 10-0 run late in the first quarter to take the lead for good. The Heat was up 34-23 after a quarter and 72-52 at halftime. Miami shot 63.2 percent (24 of 38) in the first half.
The Wizards closed within 92-82 late in the third quarter, but Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored the last seven points in Miami’s 13-3 run to close the period to re-establish a cushion.
Bub Carrington scored 30 points to lead Washington, while Bilal Coulibaly scored 19 of his 25 points in the first half.
