Incredible finish in Phoenix. The Suns, ahead throughout the match, let Wemby and his teammates back into the game, trailing by 20 points halfway through the third quarter, and in the final seconds they suffered a sensational comeback. The Frenchman thus achieved his first away success in the NBA, at the end of a match full of a thousand emotions. Wembanyama started with the handbrake on, missed his first five shots from the field, then – towards the end of the first half – gave the Phoenix crowd a cinematic dunk. In the second half, Phoenix, still without Booker and Beal, seems to be able to take control of the match without problems, Vassell’s triples in the last quarter and a certain sufficiency on the part of KD and his teammates, however, open the door to the sensational return of Pop’s team . Durant’s basket with 1’03” left brings Phoenix back to +5 and seems to bring peace of mind for the home team, but Wemby brings the Spurs closer from the midrange 14” later. Watanabe fails to close the score for the Suns and with San Antonio three points down, Vassell takes a long-range shot eight seconds from the siren which however only finds the rim. The rookie wonder Wembanyama captures the offensive rebound and dunks for -1. Phoenix chooses not to spend a timeout and hands the ball to KD. The excellent doubling by the Spurs allows Johnson a sensational recovery (probably with the help of an undetected foul on the Suns leader), and the Texan with a dunk gives the guests their first lead of the match. There is still a second on the clock but it is the Spurs and Wembanyama’s evening (18 points, with 6/12 from the field, eight rebounds, one assist and four blocks) and Kevin Durant’s shot at the end fails to find the retina. The Suns thus suffered a surreal defeat.
Phoenix: Durant 26 (11/16, 1/3, 1/2 tl), Gordon 20, Allen 19. Rebounds: Nurkic 12. Assists: Durant 7.
San Antonio: Johnson 27 (6/11, 4/9, 3/4 TL), Wembanyama, Vassell 18. Rebounds: Wembanyama 8. Assists: Vassell 5.