Dunk the Halls: Victor Wembanyama shines brightly in Spurs’ (animated) Christmas game

Victor Wembanyama (42 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 blocks) embraced the national stage today on Main Street and shined for the (Disney)world to see

Disney’s first ‘Dunk the Halls’ broadcast was a visual feast for both fans of the Mouse and his friends along with the victoroius Knicks

(This Final Score is probably best shared with your kids or with a nice cup of eggnog!)

Merry Christmas, Pounders! While the real-life Spurs and Knicks players took each other on at Madison Square Garden today, the animated version of the teams played on Main Street, USA. I feel proud that the Spurs were one of the inaugural participants in this Dunk the Halls broadcast over the other eight teams that are playing later today.

Observations

How did Goofy end up being assigned to coach in the Spurs’ locker room? “Don’t forget your helmets and rackets”
The players moved like Nintendo Wii bots.
In terms of camera angles, the view from the backcourt was the most useful one. The low sideline vantage point was a bit jarring to take in.

“OH BOY!” (MICKEY MOUSE) MOMENTS

After the Spurs’ big man ended the first half with a straightaway three, Drew Carter declared, “My favorite Disney character… is VICTOR WEMBANYAMA.”
Cool grahpics — each time a player fell to the floor, the animation showed them glitching and disappearing into the unknown.
First Spurs’ sub: You guessed it! Mickey Mouse for Chris Paul. Mickey’s first NBA bucket came at the 7:33 mark of the first!
After Vassell’s and-1 early in the first, his accurate free throw generated a ‘cute’ (wife’s words, not mine) starry splash effect when it went through the net.
With snow flurries intermittently falling throughout the broadcast, it was a Christmas miracle that the players were able to carry on with their game without any interruptions.
Stephon Castle’s character looked the coolest when dribbling and driving.
Wembanyama’s shooting stroke from the field looked the most fluid and smooth.
Sequence of the Game #1: When Mickey caught a long carom at the start of the second period, he sent it to far upcourt to a streaking Tre Jones for a transition lay-up. Mickey’s second three shortly after put the Spurs up five.
Sequence of the Game #2: Late in the opening half, and after Keldon Johnson fed Wembanyama in the post, he found Vassell cutting baseline for a power dunk. A minute later, Paul fed Wembanyama in the middle of the paint, and he re-directed the ball softly to Sochan for an alley-oop!
After Wembanyama dunked a follow in the second, Mickey scaled the Christmas tree and topped it with a star!
Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy started in the third quarter with Mickey drawing a loose-ball foul after getting knocked to the court.
The Disney animators captured Sochan’s hitchy shot form on his two threes in the second half perfectly.
On Vassell’s corner three late in the third, the camera isolated on him in the moments right before his bucket. So perhaps the animated broadcast was a minute behind the real-life action.

GAWRSH (GOOFY) SEQUENCES:

Speaking of Goofy, one of the highlights was his Churro Counter. The hungry fella consumed 26 churros within the first 9 ¹⁄₂ minutes. He downed his 47th by the 9:00 minute mark of the second. The 91st churro made its way down his gullet with two minutes left in the first half. He surpassed the 139 mark in the last minute of the third period. The 181st churro made its way into Goofy moments into the fourth. Goofy polished off his 200th churro with 5:16 left in the game. Eat your heart out, Joey Chestnut!
Minnie subbed in for Harrison Barnes midway through the opening stanza, and unfortunately both had little impact today.

“OH PHOOEY” OCCASIONS (DONALD DUCK)

Wembanyama turned it over on the first Spurs’ possession, and it was awkward watching his character twirl around endlessly.
The Gingerbread People on the sidelines – that’s a soft ‘nope.’
After getting knocked off the ball in the first frame, Sochan neglected to run back on defense, and allowed Goofy a clean dunk at the other end. Donald Duck hounded Vassell into a travel, and a tough turnaround miss. angry duck noises
When the players shot their free throws, their arms would disappear temporarily before the ball was released towards the basket.
At the end of the first quarter, Disney had a flashcard asking “What was Mickey Mouse’s first apperance?” #spelling

MICKEY AND FRIENDS’ HALFTIME DUNK CONTEST

Goofy, used Pluto (animal abuse) as a trampoline and dunked himself through the hoop.
Daisy Duck unfurled a free-throw line 360 degree dunk that would have made Zach LaVine proud.
Pluto channeled in his inner Air Bud by lobbing the ball to himself and heading it into the basket.
Mr. Mouse himself did a forward flip from the stripe and threw down a clean jam, but it was only good for second tonight.
Donald Duck, of course, made things difficult for himself and, after negotiating his obstacle course, was turned away at the rim by Chip and Dael’s hijinks and threw an angry fit.
Minnie Mouse managed to scale the entire Disney castle (after again using Pluto’s back as a launching pad (animal abuse)) for a power slam – took Mickey’s feed to convert the difficult alley-oop and win the contest going away .

San Antonio’s road trip continues on Friday night in Brooklyn against the Nets at 6:30 PM CDT.