Victor Wembanyama racked up 40 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots in 25 minutes of court action as the visiting San Antonio Spurs took apart the Phoenix Suns 122-96 on Monday to win their ninth straight game.
The Spurs led by 15 points at halftime and by 25 after a rousing third quarter in which Wembanyama (10 points) and Dylan Harper (14) combined to score 24 of the team’s 32 points.
San Antonio poured it on in the opening minutes of the final period, building its advantage to 104-70 after a Wembanyama running dunk with 9:34 to play that sent both teams’ starters to the bench.
Wembanyama went 15 of 19 from the floor in the victory that kept San Antonio perfect on the road this season. Harper added 17 points, De’Aaron Fox had 15 points and nine rebounds, Harrison Barnes scored 11 points and Julian Champagnie also contributed 11 points in a spot start for the injured Devin Vassell (left adductor tightness).
Devin Booker led the Suns with 32 points. Khaman Maluach added 11 points off the bench for Phoenix, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.
The Spurs led for most of the first quarter before Booker canned a 3-pointer with 1:41 left as the final of his 15 points in the period to put Phoenix up 25-24. San Antonio then got a tip-in and a jumper from beyond the arc from Wembanyama and a driving layup by Fox to take a 31-25 lead after 12 minutes of play.
San Antonio continued its run in the second period, scoring 16 of the first 20 points of the quarter to go up 47-29 after Luke Kornet’s dunk at the 7:16 mark. The Spurs stoked the margin to 20 points when Carter Byrant hit a running 3-pointer with 5:19 to play in the half before settling for a 61-46 advantage at the break.
Booker’s 23 points led all scorers before halftime. Wembanyama paced San Antonio with 22 points in the first half, with Fox adding 13 as the Spurs outshot Phoenix 51.2%-37.5% over the first two quarters.
San Antonio never let the Suns get back in the game in third quarter, pushing their advantage to 93-68 when Wembanyama canned a 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining. Harper scored 14 points in the period, marking his career high for points in one quarter.
