The San Antonio Spurs are back in the playoffs. And Victor Wembanyama made sure everyone would remember how they got there.
With his team trailing by a point and the clock winding below two seconds, Wembanyama took an inbounds pass, sized up defender Oso Ighodaro, and drilled a 17-foot fadeaway jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the Spurs a 101-100 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.
Devin Booker’s half-court heave at the buzzer clanged off the rim. The Frost Bank Center erupted. The Spurs had clinched their first playoff berth since 2019. The six-year drought — the longest in franchise history since the ABA-NBA merger — was over.
The Final Minute Was Chaos
Phoenix had controlled the fourth quarter, building a lead that seemed comfortable with under two minutes to play. Then San Antonio ripped off a 5-0 run in the final 60 seconds to steal a game that looked lost.
Wembanyama calmly sank a pair of free throws with 59 seconds left. De’Aaron Fox slashed to the rim for a layup with 26.6 seconds remaining, trimming the deficit to one. Then the Suns handed the Spurs a gift: Rasheer Fleming, fouled with 11.1 seconds on the clock, missed both free throws — the first rattling in and out, the second doing the same.
The Spurs called timeout and drew up the play. Wembanyama got the ball, held his dribble until the clock was almost gone, then rose up over Ighodaro with the fadeaway. Pure. Net. History.
“I’m with my brothers right here, we just happy,” Wembanyama said in a hyped-up postgame huddle before literally banging a drum for the sellout crowd. “We hadn’t had a game like this in a while. Feels good to know we still got it.”
Wemby’s Stat Line Was Monstrous
The 7-foot-4 sensation finished with 34 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds, and three steals. He was perfect from the free throw line. It was his first successful go-ahead basket in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in his career, after missing the previous five such attempts.
De’Aaron Fox contributed 23 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, and Julian Champagnie added 14 off the bench. On the Suns’ side, Collin Gillespie had 24 points with six threes and Booker added 22, but it wasn’t enough.
The Spurs’ trajectory this season has been stunning. They’ve now won 21 of their last 24 games and 20 of 22 since February 1, rocketing to 52-18 and the second-best record in the NBA — just three games behind the Thunder. They are the second team to clinch a playoff berth this season, joining OKC.
No one from the Spurs’ last playoff roster in 2019 is on this team. That squad, led by DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, lost in seven games to Denver in the first round. The franchise endured five straight lottery seasons to rebuild around Wembanyama, and the payoff is arriving ahead of schedule.
MVP Chants Getting Louder
Thursday’s heroics further bolstered Wembanyama’s MVP candidacy. He and Luka Doncic — whose own 60-point game happened just minutes before Wemby’s game-winner — are now engaged in a three-way MVP race with SGA that could go down to the wire.
The Spurs have 12 games left. The playoffs start April 18. With Wembanyama playing like this, San Antonio isn’t just happy to be there — they’re a legitimate threat to win it all.
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