Julian Champagne leads the Rockets from 3-point range in the 1st half
The The San Antonio Spurs are without Devin Vassell over the past few weeks and continue to be without him on Tuesday night in a rivalry matchup against the Houston Rockets. But the Spurs didn’t seem to miss Wassell’s contributions on the court, not even a little bit, as Julian Champagne stepped into the starting lineup and kept things going for the Western Conference’s second-best team.
Champagne has a few nights where it simply delivers both volume and efficiency beyond the arc, and Tuesday night was one such occasion. 24-year-old striker six triples drilled in the first half of their contest against the Rockets, making more 3-pointers than the entire Rockets team did in the first 24 minutes of the game.
The Rockets aren’t known for their three-point shooting, but it’s still crazy to see one man outscore an entire team from beyond the arc for such a long period of time. As of this writing, Champagne now has eight 3-pointers on the night and the Rockets only have six, so the same is still true. And given how good the Spurs defense was, the game could end this way.
Julian Champagnie is a true development success story for Spurs
The Spurs have become one of the best teams in the NBA thanks to the contributions of their top picks like Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox. Vassell was also solid, as was De’Aaron Fox. But struggling teams always seem to pull contributions out of nowhere, and Champagnie’s development into one of the best scorers in the NBA proves that.
San Antonio claimed Champagne off waivers in 2023. Since then, he’s started 121 games for the Spurs, and he’s under contract at such a bargain price (he has team option worth $3 million for next season).
2026-01-21 03:14:00
