NBA rising stars Mikal Bridges and Victor Wembanyama light up Christmas Day with impressive performances

Wembanyama made history for the Spurs on the holiday by scoring a record number of points, along with grabbing an impressive 18 rebounds, dishing out four assists, and blocking four shots. The current Western Conference player of the week also showed off his range by sinking six 3-pointers during the game.

But Bridges shot 17-for-25 from the field, 6-for-9 behind the arc, to make sure the Knicks had just enough offense to win their fifth in a row and improve to 20-10.

The two combined for a slew of impressive achievements:

It also marked the third instance in NBA history that two opposing players scored 40-plus points on Christmas Day, joining Guerin (40) and Chamberlain (59) in 1961 and Oscar Robertson (40) and Elgin Baylor (40), also in 1961.

Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points and nine rebounds, and Jalen Brunson scored 20 points. Josh Hart finished with 12 points, 12 boards and six assists.

Jeremy Sochan had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs.

San Antonio had a chance to pull out a terrific win but gave up 17 offensive rebounds and was unable to get its hands on the ball at the end, with Hart grabbing two misses in the final half-minute to run out the clock.

Bridges is often needed more for his defense than offense in his first season with the Knicks, but he reminded people on Wednesday just how good he can be with the ball in his hands.

The Spurs were within one point with two minutes to go after two free throws by Chris Paul before Bridges made consecutive jumpers for a five-point lead with 1:18 to play.

The Associated Press contributed to this report