The Silver and Black played their best first half of the season tonight, building an early 27-point lead and leading 75-55 at halftime. The Spurs were outnumbered in the second half as Devin Vassell exited with left groin strain, and Devin Booker fired up a monster second-half performance as the Suns rallied to a 116-116 loss with 4:21 left. The game was a draw. But Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs were undeterred as they went on a 12-0 run in just over two minutes to put the game out of reach and win by 11.
Victor’s 38 points were astonishing, but his presence on defense was also crucial in crucial moments of the game, especially in crunch time. Victor wasn’t the only star for San Antonio, Tre Jones had another good night holding the point, and Jeremy Sochan made crucial plays on both ends. The Spurs got timely baskets from Cedi Osman to keep the lead, and Zach Collins had his best game of the year so far with 19 points. Victor was the star tonight, but it was a team win for the Silver and Black as they withstood Phoenix’s best shot and fought back to win 132-121.
Music break:
If you thought a song called “Seasons in the Sun” was a happy song, you’re wrong. Really, really, wrong. It’s mostly about death.
Observations
- Sean Elliott talked in the pregame about big comebacks in his career, and of course the Memorial Game Miracle against the Trail Blazers came up. Perhaps the Halloween miracle of 2023 will one day be viewed in a similar way in the Spurs’ historical pantheon.
- Wembanyama lost the opening tip, which is perhaps one of the few times you see something like that.
- The Spurs scored the first 13 points of the game, so worries that they might rest on the laurels of Tuesday’s win were perhaps a little overblown.
- The Suns’ offense was really disrupted by Wembanyama’s presence on the team, and no one other than Durant could do much in the first quarter.
- The Spurs were cold in the first half of Game 1, but tonight they were hotter than the frying oil at McDonald’s on a Saturday night, making seven or their first nine three-pointers in the first quarter.
- The Spurs led 39-20 after one quarter, their most dominant stretch of the season so far.
- Devin Booker looked a little rusty at the start of the game and was eliminated early in the second quarter with three quick fouls. By the end of the game, it looked like he had shaken off all the rust and had everyone on edge as the Suns tried to mount a comeback.
- I don’t think replacing Eric Gordon with Victor Wembanyama is a really good defensive strategy, but the Suns seemed fine with it.
- The Spurs led by 27 points about halfway through the second quarter, but the Suns finally started to play better, with Grayson Allen doing much of the damage and making long shots after Durant moved.
- The Suns got the bonus early in the second quarter, which was pretty much the only thing they had going into their offense.
- The Spurs sent Victor to the line to shoot technical free throws, which makes sense since he’s a great free throw shooter and it’s a good way for him to get rhythm shots.
- The Spurs led 75-55 at halftime and outscored the Suns by one in the second quarter thanks to two late three-pointers from Wembanyama.
- A sharp blow to the jaw from Drew Eubanks’ shoulder equalized Tre Jones just before halftime. No foul was called and it looked intentional. You can’t treat your former teammate Drewbanks like that! Tre came back into action in the second half and demonstrated not only his skills but also his toughness.
- Devin Vassell was sidelined in the second half with left groin strain and Malaki Branham was substituted in for him. Branham performed admirably, scoring from distance to help the Spurs hold off the Suns.
- The Suns had no answer for Victor Wembanyama in the paint. The Spurs have finally figured out that if they pass the ball high to #1, it will be an easy basket. It’s really hard to imagine how teams can prevent this.
- The Spurs cooled off a bit in the third quarter, allowing the Suns to trail by 14 to 89-103, the same lead San Antonio had overcome in the fourth quarter a few days ago.
- Without Devin Vassell, the Spurs’ offense was limited in the second half, making it difficult to stop Booker’s offensive explosion as he became more heated toward the end of the game.
- Keita Bates-Diop played a really solid game in his first extended appearance of the season for the Suns, taking advantage of some open shots.
- When the Spurs had to rest Wembanyama early in the fourth quarter, the Suns got back to within three points, with solid contributions from players like KBD and Watanabe complementing Booker’s dominant scoring performance.
- Victor came back into the game with 6 minutes to play, but KBD’s corner triple tied the game with 4 minutes to play.
- A 12-0 run led by Wembanyama’s offense and Sochan’s defense gave the Spurs a 12-point lead with a minute and a half left.
- The Suns did their best to end the game by fouling the Spurs, but the Silver and Black held on and won 132-121.
The Spurs won both games against the Suns and their record is now 3-2. They return home for a Sunday afternoon game against the Toronto Raptors at 2:30 p.m. Central at the Frost Back Centre.