In what felt like a bit of deja vu, the Spurs strolled into Phoenix off consecutive home wins, looking to continue building a winning streak against a team that was supposed to struggle after losing so
many veterans this offseason but instead has found new life. After staying comfortably ahead in the first half, the second half turned into their first visit to Phoenix, when the Suns handed them their first loss of the season thanks to getting hot from three and being more physical than the mistake-prone Spurs.
Neither team was hot to start the game, but the Spurs managed to build a 21-13 lead by attacking the Suns’ vulnerable interior defense and getting to the free throw line. Unlike their last meeting, the Suns were initially cold from three, missing their first nine, but they clawed their by back by attacking the offensive glass for seven extra points in the quarter before finally hitting a couple of threes as part of a 12-2 run. The Spurs regrouped from there and scored the final seven points of the first quarter to lead 30-25 after 12 minutes.
Carter Bryant got some minutes to open the second quarter in front of his college coach, Tommy Lloyd of the University of Arizona, and he made the most of it with a fast break layup and three to help spark the Spurs to their first double-digit lead of the night at 41-31. They kept the lead in that range for a bit, but some disjointed play on offensive led to a couple of threes in transition for Phoenix as part of an 8-0 run, and Mitch Johnson called timeout with the lead cut down to four with just under five minutes remaining in the half. A Keldon Johnson three helped stabilize things a bit, and after a few chaotic minutes, they were up 56-49 at the half.
Despite holding the lead most of the first half, it still felt precarious since the Suns are a team that lives and dies by the three, and the odds that they would eventually find their stroke was better than the Spurs. After both teams had only hit four threes each in the first half, the Spurs hit two to open the second, but as feared, the Suns quickly found their offense and used an 11-3 run to retake the lead for the first time since early in the first quarter at 63-62. The Spurs briefly got it back thanks to a 5-point possession, but again sloppy play had them marred in one of the signature “turd” quarters. The Suns stretched the lead out to seven on a 16-6 run and overall hit 6 threes in the quarter to lead 80-86 with 12 minutes to go.
The Spurs remained disjointed to start the fourth quarter, with the defense out of whack as the Suns started on a 10-4 run to get the lead up to 12 84-72, forcing a Spurs timeout. They would get up by as much as 13 before the Spurs finally stringed a few stops and makes together, but by now the Suns were in an offensive rhythm while no one outside of De’Aaron Fox or Johnson in isolation could do much. The Spurs desperately tried to get back in it in the last two minutes, but it was too little, too late as they fell in Phoenix for the second time this season, 102-111.
Game Notes
- It’s hard to argue anyone had a good game for the Spurs. De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes were both 5-11 from the field, although Barnes failed to hit a three and only attempted two, seeming uncharacteristically hesitant to pull the trigger. Fox was at least aggressive and got to the line, where he hit 14-16 FTs (the only part of the game where the Spurs had a statistical advantage with 34 attempts compared to just 16 for the Suns) and scored a game-high 26 points. Off the bench, Johnson continued to show why he should be in the mix for 6th Man the year with 14 points on 6-8 shooting and 2-3 from three, but the bench unit as a whole was poor tonight, and his play couldn’t put a dent in it.
- When you consider that the Spurs had a 17-point advantage at the free throw line, that tells you how badly the Suns outplayed them in every other category. They hit 11 more field goals, four more threes, had six more steals, two more blocks, committed 13 fewer turnovers and gave up 8 fewer points off those turnovers. I was actually surprised the Spurs “only” gave up 14 points off 19 turnovers; I figured it would be much worse.
- Another stat the Spurs also actually won but it didn’t feel like it was offensive rebounds, 14-11. It felt like the Suns had so many more, maybe because of possessions like one early in 2nd quarter, where the Suns three because Spurs were just tapping the ball out instead of grabbing it, and the taps kept landing in the Suns hands. Fortunately they didn’t score on that possession, but it was a reminder of how much the Spurs miss Victor Wembanyama snatching (and not tapping) every available ball in his massive reach.
- In one extremely awkward moment in the third quarter, it seemed like Dillon Brooks was ejected after getting a technical yelling “delay!” at the refs, wanting a delay of game call on the Spurs. Everyone thought it was his second T and were dumbfounded that he was still on the court, but it turned out an earlier technical as part of the aforementioned five-point play that was actually on Royce O’Neal, even though it had originally been assigned to Brooks.
Up next: Wednesday at Portland Trail Blazers
The Spurs head to Portland to take on an injured Blazers squad that is still holding on and even featuring former Spur Siddy Cissoko at starting point guard the last few games. Tip-off will be at 9:00 PM CT on FanDuel Sports.
