Victor Wembanyama sent the San Antonio Spurs back to the playoffs in dramatic fashion.
Wembanyama drilled a 17-foot jumper with a second left to give the Spurs a 101-100 win over the Phoenix Suns Thursday night at the Frost Bank Center to send the Spurs back to the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.
The 22-year-old’s game-winning shot capped a furious last-minute rally. The Spurs were down 100-95 with 1:13 left after Suns forward Jordan Goodwin drilled a 3-pointer.
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Wembanyama sparked the comeback when he snared an offensive rebound and was fouled by Suns star Devin Booker and drilled two free throws to cut the Suns’ lead to 100-97. Booker then missed a shot on the other end, and Spurs point guard De’Aaron Fox quickly converted a layup to make it 100-99.
The Suns had a chance to take a three-point lead when Wembanyama fouled Rasheer Fleming. However, Fleming missed both free throws, and the Spurs corralled the rebound and immediately took a timeout.
Wembanyama capitalized on the missed free throws and drilled the game-winning jumper, sending the Spurs back to the playoffs.
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Wembanyama said after the game he was playing with wine-stained shorts after someone spilled wine on him.
“It was hard to take in all the stimulus around me,” Wembanyama said. “I had the fans looking at me. I had this guy spill wine on me. And then that was before the end of the game. I’d made the shot. I would sprint back on defense and kind of hit a guy, and I got wine on my shorts now. It was a lot going on.”
Wembanyama, who scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the win, said he was happy to make the playoffs but is not satisfied.
“Of course, the first instinct is to be proud of it and to love it because we’re part of it,” Wembanyama said. “But the key for me is to try to not care because we want to attack 82 games. I’m scared to become complacent. So, I’ll be on the other end of the spectrum right now. Try to not care at all.”
The Spurs are 52-18 and are three games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (55-15) for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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