Despite 15 points from the Victor Wembanyama – Stephon Castle duo, it is Jazz who are in the lead. The 4/6 3-pointers and the 15 points of Keyonta George (26 points, 6 assists) give Utah an eight-point lead (27-19). It takes several lost balls from Will Hardy's men to see the Spurs remain in ambush (35-32).
Chris Paul (14 points) confirms the revival of the Texans and he launches a 14-6 to start the second period, ending with 5 points from Wemby, to put San Antonio at +5 (46-41). The Jazz, however, reacted immediately. Their defense raises the tone and their zone slows down the Spurs. On the other side, John Collins (20 points, 13 rebounds) and Brice Sensabaugh (16 points) catch fire. Collins dominates inside while Sensabaugh makes 4/5 from afar to give their team a seven-length lead (66-59).
X-factor champagne
An untenable Wembanyama, however, limits the damage before Stephon Castle follows him to complete a 7-0 which brings the Spurs back to level at the break (66-66). Wemby continues his momentum after returning from the locker room. He adds two award-winning shots and San Antonio thinks to take control of operations (77-70), but the Jazz regains its score. Keyonta George and John Collins inflict a 20-7 on the Texans to regain a six-point lead (90-84). THE mano a mano continues and San Antonio gets back in front, ending the period with a 12-3 (96-93)!
Collin Sexton (20 points) tries to wake up his troops with two 3-point shots but the Spurs concede before killing the match. Julian Champagnie (15 points) scores three winning shots, Wemby takes out the barbed wire, and San Antonio goes to +13 (116-103). They are now 2 wins and 1 loss in the NBA Cup and can still qualify for the quarter-finals.
WHAT TO REMEMBER
– Victor Wembanyama overtakes Tim Duncan. With 34 points last night, the Frenchman now has 14 games with 30 points or more. This is the second highest total in Spurs history for a player in his first two seasons. He has just overtaken Tim Duncan (13 games), but remains far from David Robinson (41 games)! Wemby scored 24 of his 34 points in the first half to keep San Antonio in contention during one of the Jazz's highlights. He was also skillful from afar (6/14, 43%) and once again served as a scarecrow in defense, particularly in the last quarter to prevent a Utah comeback.
– Stephon Castle continues to gain momentum. In the absence of Devin Vassell, Stephon Castle once again brilliantly took on the role of Victor Wembanyama's first lieutenant. He scored 16 of his 23 points before the break, while delivering 5 assists. This is his tenth game in a row with ten points or more. The rookie continues to impress with his maturity and calm under pressure. He also managed to slow down Keyonta George in the last quarter when the latter had the hot hand.
– Too many lost balls for Jazz. With 21 turnovers, Utah shot itself in the foot throughout the game. They lost 6 balls in the first quarter, 7 in the second, and 8 after the break. The Spurs were able to capitalize on these blunders by scoring 33 points on all these lost balls, including 24 on the counter-attack! While they were skillful (51% shooting, including 37% from 3-point range), they took nine fewer shots than their opponents. A difficult deficit to overcome.
