SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs won 128-115 on the road against Utah, their fourth straight win.
Victor Wembanyama finished with 34 points and seven rebounds. Julian Champagnie had 15 points and four rebounds, Keldon Johnson finished with 10, Harrison Barnes had eight and eight rebounds, and Chris Paul had 14 points and four assists.
Sandro Mamukelashvili added 11 points, and Stephon Castle had 23 points and five assists.
San Antonio was without Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan due to injury. Head coach Gregg Popovich was also out due to illness. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson assumed head coaching duties for the game.
The Spurs are 10-8 on the season and will next host the Lakers on Wednesday night.
Here's a sample of what the teams said after the game.
SPURS
Mitch Johnson:
"We've been fortunate that Victor, Zach (Collins), Charlie (Charles Bassey), all those guys have given us good minutes, and again, our depth is hopefully slow becoming one of our strengths, and just giving guys opportunities, and Charlie to play the last game or so, I believe, after he had a big run, and we want to give him a shot today."
Champagnie:
"I think we're super confident in ourselves and what we do. We're all just pushing the win. We want to win. We want to get better. Just coming out in fourth quarter, when we're down, 20 (points), up, 20, whatever it is, we just want to play the right way, execute."
Wembanyama:
"I wouldn't say we were not confident last year. Let's say we have more knowledge on the court. More confidence because we've failed sometimes, we've made mistakes. I don't even call it failure. It is just we learn."
Castle:
"I feel like the last couple games they (opponents) kind of jumped out on us in the first quarter. So that (defense) was our emphasis. Locking our defense. But we didn't have the first half we wanted, even though the score was tied. So coming out in the second half, we really picked it (defense) up and it showed. It's been four games in a row."
Mamukelashvili:
"We hang our hats on defense. I feel like that's the most important part.
Coaching staff is very strict about it. They want us to make sure we come out there and get our defense in the game, instead of 'offensing' ourselves in the game. If that makes sense."
JAZZ
Will Hardy:
"I really do think that ultimately tonight, like we beat ourselves. It's a three point game going into the fourth quarter with some ugly play. That's where you want to be. Close game at home going into the fourth, we could have eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone, and another night where we have twenty-plus turnovers. It's just hard to win. The math is against you in those moments."