George Gervin’s Spurs teams never did it. Neither did David Robinson’s nor Tim Duncan’s.
Gregg Popovich coached the Spurs for nearly three decades and never did it, either.
Victor Wembanyama’s team just did.
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A 5-0 record sounds pretty good. It also sounds historic.
Thanks to another do-everything game from Victor Wembanyama and a dominating defensive effort from everyone else, the Spurs outlasted Miami 107-101 at the Frost Bank Center to remain undefeated.
With the victory, the 2025-26 Spurs became the first squad in franchise history to begin a season with five consecutive victories.
Wembanyama had 27 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and five blocks and Stephon Castle added 21 points and eight assists as the Spurs held off a fourth-quarter charge from the Heat.
It gave the Spurs their longest winning streak since February and March of 2019, when they won nine in a row. No member of this year’s roster was on that squad.
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Before Thursday, in fact, the Spurs were the only team in the NBA without at least a five-game winning streak since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
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The Spurs did it despite 31 points and 10 rebounds from Miami All-Star Bam Adebayo, who is turning into a bit of a Spurs killer.
After holding the high-powered Heat to 14 points in the third quarter, the Spurs led 87-72 heading to the fourth.
They gave all of that advantage that away in a 17-1 run that put Miami back on top with 7½ minutes to go.
The Spurs rallied to take the lead on back-to-back 3-pointers from Devin Vassell and Wembanyama with 4:58 to play and held on from there.
The San Antonio Spurs chant “Go Spurs Go” in unison with the fans as they celebrate their victory over the Miami Heat at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Heat, 107-101, to secure their first 5-0 start in franchise history. (Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News)
Here are three takeaways from the Spurs’ historic 5-0 start:
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1. Wembanyama’s minutes-played numbers impressive, too
Wembanyama stuffed almost every category of the stat sheet again Thursday. The most impressive number might have been his minutes played.
He logged 40 of them against the Heat, in an up-tempo, fast-pace grind that required Wembanyama to cover tons of ground and afforded him little rest.
Considering his nine-month layoff with a blood clot issue, it is a testament to Wembanyama’s offseason conditioning.
He appears to be in midseason form in October.
2. Vassell’s hustle plays turn the tide
Earlier in the week, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson praised Vassell’s “adult” approach to the game.
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His all-grown-up-ness was on display again Thursday.
Vassell’s 17 points were helpful, as were his nine rebounds.
On top of that, Vassell made some of the game’s biggest hustle plays down the stretch.
A few moments after hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:26 to play, Vassell hit the deck to track down a loose defensive rebound on the other end.
That led to a deep Wembanyama 3-pointer to help the Spurs extend the lead.
Vassell came up big again later in the fourth.
With a little under 30 seconds to go and the Spurs up seven, Vassell saved a Wembanyama misfire from heading out of bounds to keep possession and allow the Spurs to run more clock.
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The possession ended with Wembanyama getting fouled and heading to the foul line, where he made one of two.
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3. Heat offense hard to figure, for a half
Mitch Johnson and the Spurs have sought to “embrace the mundane.” For Erik Spoelstra and the Heat, the theme for the season might be “embrace the unknown.”
Miami entered the season with a revamped offense high on pace and low (read: non-existent) on pick-and-rolls.
It is a freeform, read-and-react style that Spoelstra admits he wasn’t quite sure would work.
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“I just wanted to be open to the possibilities,” Spoelstra said. “I said on that first presser (at media day) that we’re embracing the unknown and embracing the possibilities of what we can develop.”
The early returns have been better than good.
The Heat came into Thursday as one of the NBA’s early-season surprises, with the top two scoring games in the league so far (146 points against Memphis and 144 against Charlotte).
Like Miami’s previous opponents, the Spurs struggled as it took a while to catch on to what the Heat were doing.
The Spurs held Miami to 14 points in the third quarter, their best defensive frame of the season, then stiffened up again down the stretch in the fourth.
This article originally published at 3 takeaways as Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs beat Heat to make franchise history.