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Gay nails jumper at buzzer to give defenseless Spurs 126-124 win over Suns

Coach Pop: 'We didn't play with each other and it was a pathetic performance. Phoenix got robbed.'

SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs aren't an elite team, but the game against the 11-win Phoenix Suns wasn't supposed to be this close.

After all, the Suns had lost eight straight and their last four by an average of 23 points. Phoenix also was missing injured 7-foot-1 center Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. 

But there the Silver and Black were at the AT&T Center, pushed to the final second before forward Rudy Gay lifted them to a 126-124 victory with a buzzer-beating, 21-foot jumper.

The Spurs led 124-122 before guard Marco Belinelli lost the ball on a steal by Devin Booker, and Josh Jackson converted the turnover into a fast-break dunk with 19.6 seconds left.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich opted not to take a timeout, and Gay worked the clock until he was to the left of the basket. Guarded by forward Oubre Jr., Gay lined up a shot and released the ball just before the buzzer sounded.

"They were all smalls, so I was just trying to get a good shot off," Gay said. "I knew they were probably going to jump the screen, so I let LA (LaMarcus Aldridge) get away and tried to get a shot off." 

The Spurs ran on the court after the game-winning basket and mobbed Gay, who finished with 16 points and added five rebounds and five assists.

Popovich was too upset with his team's atrocious defensive performance to celebrate after the game. The Suns scored 67 points in the first half, and shot 60 percent overall (48-80) for the game, and 44.8 percent (13-29) from the three-point line.

"To begin the game I thought they outplayed us and out-coached us, out-physicaled us, out-executed us and we had no respect for them or for the game," Popovich said. "We didn't play with each other and it was a pathetic performance. Phoenix was robbed."

Gay took a different tack when he was asked if he was happy with the victory.

"Um, it's a win," he said. "I'm not happy about how it happened, but we got the win and that's part of being a good team. You've got to find ways to get wins."

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs (30-22) with a double-double, finishing with 29 points and 14 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.

"It wasn't our best game," said Aldridge, who scored only nine points in the second half, but grabbed 10 rebounds in the last two quarters. "Didn't execute well down the stretch, but we've lost some games that we should have won. This is one that we kind of dodged a bullet and got a win." 

Five other Spurs scored in double figures. Davis Bertans had 18 points and was 5 of 12 from the three-point line, and Marco Belinelli finished with 17 points. Belinelli was 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

Derrick White (15), Bryn Forbes (12) and Patty Mills (12) rounded out the double-figure scoring for the Spurs.

RELATED: GAME BLOG: Spurs slip past Suns, 126-124

San Antonio shot 47 percent overall (47-100) and 44.1 percent (15-34) from long distance.

Devin Booker led the scoring for the Suns with 38 points on 14-of-19 shooting, including 3 of 6 from the three-point line. Booker got plenty of help from Jamal Crawford, who finished with 22 points.

Mikal Bridges (17), Josh Jackson (14), Oubre (14) and Rashaun Holmes (10) also scored in double figures for Phoenix (11-42).

Ayton, who has averaged 16.4 and 10.6 rebounds in 47 games as a rookie, missed the game with a sprained left ankle.

The Spurs went up by 12 in the third quarter and appeared to be on the verge of pulling away, but the Suns ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to five heading into the final period.

Aldridge was asked what the Spurs need to do to shore up their defense.

"Just got to key in on matchups and (the) scouting report, team defense," he said. "We're seeing some guys that can score really well, so we've just got to have team defense, help weakside, try to make their looks tough."

Up by only three at the half, the Silver and Black outscored the Suns 26-24 in the third quarter to take a 96-91 lead into the final period. San Antonio led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter before Phoenix chipped away at the deficit

Credit: Photo by Antonio Morano (bit.ly/XR79FT) / Special to KENS5.com
Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge had a double-double in Tuesday night's 126-124 win over the Phoenix Suns, finishing with 29 points and 14 rebounds.

There was hardly a semblance of defense by either team in the first half. The Spurs led 70-67 at the break, but the Suns shot 59.5 percent overall (25-42) and 47.1 percent (8-17) from the three-point line. It's a trend for the Spurs.

Washington scored 69 first-half points in Sunday night's 132-119 loss to San Antonio at the AT&T Center.

"It's not the way we wanted to play," White said. "I'll take an ugly win over a loss, but we've definitely got to come ready to play."

On the plus side, the Spurs scored 28 points off 18 Suns turnovers. 

Booker led Phoenix with 18 points and Bridges added 10 in the first half.

Aldridge led the Silver and Black's scoring in the first half with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting. White and Bertans added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Bertans scored all of his points from beyond the arc, hitting 4 of 7 attempts.

The Spurs shot 50 percent overall (25-50) and 53.3 percent (8-15) from the three-point line in the first half.

San Antonio had only two turnovers in the first two quarters, but Phoenix coughed up 10 that the Spurs converted into 15 points.

The Spurs host the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night and cap their four-game home stand Saturday against the New Orleans Pelicans.

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