De’Aaron Fox made two foul shots with 1.4 seconds left and finished with 31 points as the visiting San Antonio Spurs withstood a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Orlando Magic 114-112 on Wednesday.
Luke Kornet blocked Franz Wagner’s shot at the buzzer to secure the win for San Antonio, which improved to 7-2 since star Victor Wembanyama landed on the injured list with a strained left calf.
Dylan Harper scored 16 points off the bench to help the Spurs snap Orlando’s three-game winning streak. Devin Vassell added 15, Julian Champagnie had 14, Keldon Johnson scored 13, and Harrison Barnes chipped in 11.
Wagner led the Magic with 25 points. Jalen Suggs tallied 24, Desmond Bane added 14, and Tristan da Silva contributed 12.
Orlando trailed by 15 in the third quarter before cutting the deficit to 110-106 on Goga Bitadze’s dunk with 1:36 remaining.
Wagner hit a 3-pointer with 1:04 left to make it a one-point game, and, after a Fox turnover, Orlando had a chance to take its first lead since late in the first quarter. But Suggs missed a running layup and Fox sunk two foul shots to give San Antonio a 112-109 lead with 26 seconds left.
The Spurs’ Jeremy Sochan missed a pair of free throws with 16.6 seconds remaining before Wagner made three straight foul shots after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to tie the game at 112 with 7.7 seconds to play.
Fox was fouled on a mid-range jumper with 1.4 seconds left and converted both free throws before Kornet’s defensive heroics.
Playing the second game of a back-to-back, San Antonio led 31-29 at the end of the opening quarter after shooting 52.2% from the field.
The Spurs used a 9-0 run to move ahead 44-35 with 7:15 left in the second quarter and led 58-49 at the half.
San Antonio held the Magic to 20 points in the second quarter on 36% shooting. Orlando shot 25% (4 of 16) from 3-point range in the first half.
Champagnie’s 3-pointer gave the Spurs their biggest lead at 74-59 with 7:27 left in the third quarter before the Magic chipped away to pull within 86-79 at the end of the period.
After Champagnie drilled another trey to put San Antonio ahead 97-85 with 7:23 left in the contest, Orlando responded with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 99-93.
Champagnie converted 4 of 7 from long range in the game.
Orlando played without star Paolo Banchero, who missed his 10th straight game with a left groin strain.
–Field Level Media
