Perhaps you entered Wednesday unfamiliar with any of the following things:
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The name Sandro Mamukelashvili;
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The fact that he is a basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs; or
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Either the broad confines of his skill-set or the finer points of his game.
If that is true, don’t beat yourself up about it too much. It appears the Knicks weren’t very familiar with those things, either.
A second-round pick out of Seton Hall back in 2021 who began his career in Milwaukee, the 6-foot-11 Mamukelashvili has spent most of his four pro seasons on the fringes of the rotation, offering spot minutes behind the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Victor Wembanyama. The loss of Wembanyama to a blood clot and reserve big man Charles Bassey’s knee injury opened up some more opportunities for the 25-year-old, though, and on Wednesday, he made the most of them, turning in the game of his life against the visitors from New York: a career-high 34 points on 13-for-14 shooting, including a perfect 7-for-7 from 3-point range, to go with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal in a stunning 120-105 Spurs win.
“He’s in the NBA for a reason,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said after the game. “He’s a good player.”
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That avalanche of buckets all came in just 19 minutes and 26 seconds of floor time earned Mamukelashvili a piece of NBA history. It’s the most points that any player has ever scored in fewer than 20 minutes, topping Jaylen Brown (33 in 19 minutes in 2021), Kevin Love (32 in 15 minutes in 2022) and Kevin Durant (30 in 19 minutes in 2014). He’s also just the fourth NBA player ever to make 90% of his field goals, 100% of his 3-point attempts and 100% of his free throws in a game, joining Charles Barkley, Gary Payton and Tyrese Haliburton.
Pretty decent company for a guy who’s averaging 4.9 points per game for his career, and who entered Wednesday having never hit the 30-point mark in 176 career games.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Mamukelashvili showed out in this particular contest, though. After all, he had a friend in the stands — someone special he wanted to impress.
Yes, you’re seeing what you think you’re seeing: That is former Public Enemy rapper, multi-instrumentalist and all-around bon vivant Flavor Flav rushing the court to celebrate with Mamukelashvili, serving as the hype man for Mamu like he was Chuck D back in 1998.
If you’re wondering how this came to be — and, I mean, how could you not be? — here’s Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News:
Mamukelashvili met Flav at the Las Vegas Summer League as a rookie in 2021. The two hit it off and have been friends ever since.
“I FaceTime him sometimes,” Mamukelashvili said.
When Flav said he was coming to San Antonio for his birthday this week, Mamukelashvili hooked him up with tickets behind the Knicks bench, then proceeded to put on a show.
After losing control of the proceedings by giving up a 16-1 mid-first-quarter run to their hosts, New York had clawed back to within six points of the Spurs when Mamukelashvili checked in less than a minute into the second quarter … and promptly proceeded to black out.
“I don’t know what f***ing happened,” Mamukelashvili said after the game, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN. “I don’t know what f***ing happened.”
Over the next eight minutes, he outscored the misfiring Knicks by himself, 13-9, punishing Tom Thibodeau’s bigs inside and out to help propel San Antonio to a 24-point halftime lead.
When opponents run pick-and-rolls with their centers setting the ball screen, New York prefers to have their own big men sink back toward the paint rather than aggressively stepping up to guard the 3-point line. This drop coverage helps ensure that the Knicks always have a bigger body back by the basket to aid with rim protection and rebounding — two non-negotiable principles of any Thibodeau defense. But it can leave New York susceptible to opposing centers who can step out and shoot the ball, and on Wednesday, while the Knicks employed Karl-Anthony Towns (who finished with a team-high 32 points and nine rebounds on 11-for-21 shooting), it was San Antonio whose stretch-5 consistently lit up the night, popping off of his picks with enough room and time to rain fire on a dead-legged Knicks team looking none too thrilled to be back on the road after a one-game home stop following a five-game West Coast swing.
After New York finally got its offense untracked in the third quarter and got back within eight with 7:29 to go in regulation, it was Mamukelashvili who slammed the door, drilling a pair of triples and dishing a dime to a cutting Jeremy Sochan to keep San Antonio up by double-digits before putting the Knicks to bed with a dunk of his own and another bomb to push the lead back to 17. He’d finish with 21 points in the final frame, shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from the field, before checking out to a rapturous ovation from the San Antonio faithful — a performance beyond his wildest dreams.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Mamukelashvili told reporters. “I just can’t explain how I feel right now. I feel like I’m in a dream. I manifested and prayed for it. I just waited for this day. I really had an out of body experience for a little bit there. I was like, ‘Is this really happening?'”
