Keldon Johnson stripped Kevin Durant and made a contested layup with 1.2 seconds left to offer the Spurs their solely lead of the sport and a 115-114 victory over the surprised Phoenix Suns on Tuesday evening.
The Spurs, who trailed by as many as 20 factors, broke a nine-game dropping streak in opposition to Phoenix.
Johnson had 27 factors to steer San Antonio.
Taking part in in his fourth NBA sport, prime draft choose Victor Wembanyama missed his first 5 photographs earlier than throwing down a sensational dunk within the remaining seconds of the primary half. He scored 18 factors and had eight rebounds in 28 minutes. Devin Vassell additionally had 18 for the Spurs.
Durant led Phoenix with 26 factors. Eric Gordon scored 20, Grayson Allen had 19 on 5 of seven capturing from 3-point vary for the Suns, who performed with out injured beginning guards Bradley Beal and Devin Booker.
Jusuf Nurkic had a game-high 12 rebounds for Phoenix, which scored the sport’s first eight factors.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich referred to as a timeout 53 seconds into the sport after Durant’s fastbreak dunk made it 4-0. It didn’t assist a lot as Phoenix went on to steer 27-18 on the finish of the quarter. Durant had a game-high 10 factors within the interval, ending with a step-back jumper as time was operating out. The Spurs shot 29 per cent from the sphere within the quarter and made simply 1 of 11 from 3-point vary.
Phoenix led 63-45 at halftime.
Earlier than the sport, Suns coach Frank Vogel mentioned “there’s no timetable” for the return of Booker (left ankle sprain) and Bradley Beal (low again spasms). “They’re working very laborious to get again as quickly as attainable,” Vogel mentioned, noting that they’ve resumed some on-court actions in observe.