Devin Vassell scored 31 points and Victor Wembanyama contributed 19 points in his return to the lineup as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz 118-111 on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
Julian Champagnie, Jeremy Sochan and Malaki Branham each added 17 points as the Spurs won their second straight game. This marks only the fifth time all season that San Antonio (17-56) has won consecutive games.
Collin Sexton led Utah with 26 points and nine assists, but the Jazz (29-44) lost their seventh game in a row.
Lauri Markkanen added 25 points and John Collins scored 18 for Utah, which couldn’t recover after a rough start. The Jazz trailed 29-15 after the first quarter and fell behind by as many as 19 points in the second quarter.
The Jazz made one final push after Vassell hit two free throws with 6:26 remaining to give the Spurs a 109-92 lead. Utah went on a 9-0 run to pull within eight points with 4:16 left.
Sexton and Markkanen hit 3-pointers in the final minute to make it a four-point game with 23.9 remaining.
Tre Jones and Vassell sealed the Spurs’ win by hitting free throws in the final 20 seconds.
Utah went seven minutes without scoring in the first quarter while San Antonio reeled off an early 17-2 run. The Jazz were only 6-for-18 from the field in the rough first quarter.
The Jazz used a 10-0 run to tighten the game up in the second quarter, but the Spurs still led 59-48 at halftime.
Wembanyama added eight rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots after missing Monday’s victory over Phoenix with an ankle injury. Cedi Osman contributed nine points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Spurs. Jones had a team-high nine assists.
The Spurs outshot the Jazz 51.2 percent to 47 percent — thanks in part to a 16-for-33 night on 3-pointers — and won the battle of the boards 41-36.
Keyonte George added 14 points and eight assists for Utah.
–Field Level Media
Jalen Brunson returned from a first-half injury to spark a second-half comeback on Wednesday night for the host New York Knicks, who beat the Indiana Pacers 130-121 in Game 2…
Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray accepted “full responsibility” for the incident in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals that earned him a $100,000 fine from the NBA. During…
Indianapolis police are investigating an altercation between Bucks guard Patrick Beverley and a fan that that transpired last Thursday near the end of Milwaukee’s loss to the Indiana Pacers in…
Jamal Murray takes ‘full responsibility’ for Game 2 incident
Police investigating altercation between Bucks G Patrick Beverley, fan
Nuggets star Nikola Jokic wins MVP for third time in four seasons
Fever add 11 TV markets for Caitlin Clark’s rookie season