SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs won at home versus the Phoenix Suns, 104-102.
Victor Wembanyama did not play due to a left ankle injury. Devin Vassell scored 26 points in the win, and Keldon Johnson scored 14. Jeremy Sochan chipped in with 26 points and 18 rebounds, and Tre Jones had two points and four assists.
The Spurs are 16-56 on the season and will next visit the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Coach Gregg Popovich:
"[Kevin Durant] is such a difficult matchup for everybody. He's one of the greatest ever, and Jeremy [Sochan] never stopped working his butt off. He's very physical and did everything he could to guard a great player. He deserves a lot of credit. He also hit the boards for us. He got about I think 16, 17 boards tonight. He was he was very special.”
Sochan:
"It's just good to have a win. Good to have a win [with] the season we have had. So, against a team like that, we ended with three wins and one loss against them. So, I think that shows a lot and just feels good to get a good team win and have good energy around the locker room."
Johnson:
"I feel like the momentum was definitely swinging after that. We just kind of rolled with the punches. We kept going, extend the lead a little bit and made a run. As all great teams do, they made a run and we withstood it and stuck together.”
Collins:
"I think for us, again, it’s physicality, it’s everyone taking on the challenge and then we have to rebound when he’s not there. That’s another thing, too, that he [Wembanyama] can just grab rebounds that nobody else can grab so that’s big for us.”
Spurs stun Suns, win 104-102 thriller without Wembanyama
SUNS
Frank Vogel:
“That's just unacceptable to lose that game for our guys. We all said the right things, we all did the right preparation to come in, but we didn't play with the necessary focus and disposition throughout, I would say the first half, and you give a team like that life. That's how the NBA works. They [Spurs] get going, they get charged up and they start believing they're going to have a chance to win it.
Bradley Beal:
"We definitely came here and thought it was going to be easy. No [Victor Wembanyama], and [we] just got our ass kicked. They came out aggressive, like Coach told us they would, and we didn’t respond. We didn’t. Well, we did, but we didn’t withstand their punches.”