Wembanyama’s 34 sinks Suns at the buzzer in thriller

The Spurs steal one in the final second, and Victor Wembanyama is the reason why. San Antonio trails by 10 with under five minutes left, looks dead on the floor, and then starts chipping away possession by possession until Wembanyama rises for a 17-foot pull-up with 1.1 seconds left. Nothing flashy. Nothing hurried. Just a 34-point, 12-rebound night ending on the kind of shot that makes a building go silent.

Phoenix had spent much of the night in control, even if the scoreboard never let the game drift too far. The Suns open with a 26-24 first-quarter edge and carry that pace into halftime, where they lead 59-52. Devin Booker keeps them organized with 22 points and five assists, and Oso Ighodaro gives them real juice in the middle with 15 points and seven assists. Phoenix’s biggest lead reaches 11, and late in the fourth, when K. Maluach cuts for a dunk off a Booker feed to make it 95-85, the Suns are still in firm command.

But the Spurs don’t fold. That’s the story of the night. De'Aaron Fox starts the late push with a corner-three feel moment at 4:29, drilling a 25-footer to pull San Antonio within 88-95. A few possessions later, Victor Wembanyama answers from deep too, burying a 25-foot three at 3:28 to make it 91-95, and then immediately adding a block at the other end. That sequence flips the air in the building. San Antonio has gone from chasing to hunting.

The turning point comes in that frantic stretch from roughly five minutes down to the last minute, when the Spurs stack stops and make Phoenix play through every inch of the floor. Fox keeps attacking, finishing a driving finger roll with 26.6 seconds left to trim it to 99-100. Before that, he’d already drilled a 6-foot turnaround jumper to get the Spurs to 93-95. Wembanyama also carved out the critical run earlier in the third, when his second free throw on a two-shot trip puts San Antonio ahead 71-70 after they’d trailed 70-64. That nine-point burst was the first warning sign that this game was far from settled.

And then comes the last shot, the one Phoenix will see in its sleep. With the ball in his hands and the game on the line, Wembanyama spots up for a 17-foot pull-up and buries it as time expires. There’s no overtime, no extra chances, no rescue for the Suns. Just San Antonio completing the comeback from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and escaping 101-100. Fox finishes with 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Collin Gillespie’s 24 points and six threes give Phoenix a steady perimeter punch in a game that still slips away. The Spurs improve by winning the moments that mattered most: the stop after the bucket, the shot after the stop, and the composure at the horn.

For San Antonio, this is the kind of finish that can travel. A one-point win, a franchise centerpiece taking over late, and a clutch closing stretch against a quality Phoenix offense all matter in the standings and in the locker room. For the Suns, it’s a brutal loss because they had answers until the final possession—and still couldn’t survive Wembanyama’s closing act.