On a night when Spurs fans were rocked by the news that Victor Wembanyama had to be shut down for the season with a serious medical issue, it was hard to think about basketball, but the Spurs players and coaches came up with a focused effort tonight against the Phoenix Suns. The Spurs built a big lead in first three quarters, and while Phoenix was able to make the game close halfway through the fourth quarter, De’Aaron Fox took over the game late as the Spurs finished strong and won 120-109.

On a night when it should have been hard to concentrate on basketball, the team stepped up and rose to the occasion, treating the Austin fans to a San Antonio win with De’Aaron Fox closing it out as the Suns could not get enough stops to close out the Spurs. It was an impressive effort as the short-handed team played hard on a night when they couldn’t be expected to.

Observations

• I was hit hard with the news about Wembanyama’s diagnosis with deep vein thrombosis this afternoon. I just hope the kid gets fully healthy again. He’s out for the season, and I hope he can come back to play next year, but being healthy and having a full life are more important than playing a game, and I trust the kid and his family to make the best choice for his own welfare going forward.
• Bismack Biyombo was in the starting lineup. Clearly, he really impressed the coaches in the 25 seconds he’s played so far with the Spurs before tonight. He played well in tonight’s game, and it will be interesting to see if the Spurs bring him back for a second 10 day contract of add him for longer to cover for Victor’s absence.
• The Spurs rushed out to an 8-0 lead as the Sun started out as cold as the weather outside the arena. They extended the lead to 13-7 halfway through the first forcing Coach Bud to take timeout to settle his team. Who knew that coaches could call timeouts? Mind-blowing!
• I was worried the team might come out flat after the Wembanyama news, but that was not the case as they got off to a fast start, leading 31-21 after the first 12 minutes. The energy level was inspiring as the good guys left it all on the court and got to every 50-50 ball before the Suns.
• The Spurs surge sagged a bit in the second quarter as Durant led the Suns on a 13-0 run to lead the game at 45 each. The Suns eventually retook the lead for about 3 seconds with an O’Neale triple, which turned into a tie when the referees corrected a Fox two point shot to a three point score. The Spurs finished out the quarter strong and led 60-54 on a Sochan triple just before halftime.
• Dave Fizdale is one of the assistant coaches for the Suns, and he’s memorable for having one of the best post-game conferences in history when he was head coach of the Grizzlies. How’s that for data? He’s doing a great job with player development with Bol Bol, who is finally looking like an NBA big.
• Champagnie has had a bit of a midseason slump, but he stepped up tonight in a bench role
• The Spurs bullied the Suns in the third quarter as Biyombo patrolled the paint and punished trespassers, outscoring Phoenix 34-25 in the third to take a 94-79 lead going into the fourth.
• A questionable flagrant foul call on De’Aaron Fox gave the Suns a chance to cut into the lead as Grayson Allen intentionally tripped Fox and got tangled up in Fox’s leg as he tried to escape with the ball. Somehow that was a flagrant foul on De’Aaron. Maybe I’m seeing this with Silver and Black glasses, but it seemed pretty much a backwards call. Suddenly what had been a 15 point lead was cut to just five as the Spurs led 98-96 with about 8 minutes left. After a timeout, De’Aaron Fox re-entered the game and extinguished the comeback as the Suns could not keep him from scoring points.
• Keldon Johnson has been a bit of a forgotten man lately, but he was a key performer off the bench tonight and had some key plays and drew fouls as the Spurs held off the Suns late charge.
• Stephon Castle didn’t have a great shooting night, but he was really good tonight, and one of the architects of tonight’s big win.

The Spurs will be back in action tomorrow night at the Moody Center against Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons. It’s going to be a 7:30 PM start on KENS, so it’ll be a free watch for fans in the San Antonio area, as long as you have an antenna and know how to use it.