Spurs fail to complete come back as Suns eliminate them from the Emirates Cup

Winners of five of their last six games, the red-hot Spurs (when was the last time anyone said that?) had their hopes of winning the Emirates Cup dashed by the Suns on Tuesday night by losing 104-93 in another entertaining match.

The game didn’t start as planned. Phoenix came out blazing by making their first three shots and built a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. This forced Mitch “Pop” Johnson to call an early timeout, but the Suns’ hot shooting continued. Specifically, Devin Booker was on fire: the star guard came into the night sitting at 14,999 points and made sure to cross the 15k threshold early by finishing the first quarter with 12 points alone.

On the bright side, Jeremy Sochan gave the Spurs a boost off the bench. The third-year forward made his presence felt right away by hustling on every possession and fighting for every rebound. His controlled chaos provided San Antonio with a burst of energy and it seemed to rub off on Devin Vassell, who kept the Spurs in the game by hitting multiple mid-rangers. Wemby, though, played perhaps his worst half of the season. He went scoreless and didn’t seem engaged at all, and played less than 14 minutes in total in the first half.

However, extraterrestrials don’t stay incognito for long. They will eventually make their presence known, and that’s exactly what Wemby did. He scored a dozen points in under five minutes to start the third quarter as San Antonio ran their offense entirely through him, and Wemby punished the Suns in the post by using his size and agility to create easy shots for himself. In the blink of an eye, what was once a 13-point deficit dwindled to just two, and the Spurs seemed determined to have “The Comeback Kids” trademarked.

Unfortunately, San Antonio went cold again in the fourth. They generated good looks and had chances to complete the comeback, but the Spurs’ three-ball continued to abandon them: they were an abysmal 8-43 from deep. Phoenix pulled away as a result, but the Spurs’ fighting spirit and good play from Sochan and Vassell still made this an overall positive experience.

Game notes

I love this team’s hustle. We all know how much effort Sochan plays with, but Castle does the same. There was a play in the second quarter that stood out in particular: after air-balling a mid-ranger, Castle immediately sprinted to the baseline to knock the ball out of bounds off of a Suns player. It didn’t work because the refs called it a double dribble, but I loved the tenacity nonetheless.
Even though he only had a dominant stretch for half a quarter, there’s no doubt that Wemby is a top 10 player in the league now. He’s by far the best defender, is virtually unstoppable to guard in the paint, and opposing teams are now flying out to challenge him from three like he’s Steph (Curry). Oh, and did I mention that he’s still just scratching the surface of his potential? There are countless times when he’s lost on defense but still recovers and makes a block due to his instincts and length. Offensively, everyone knows that the shot is still a work in progress, but once he gets that down and becomes a better decision-maker, Wemby will truly become a three-level scorer. This type of ascension only happens a few times a generation, so appreciate it while it’s happening.
Sochan played 21:45 and ended with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 assists. There were stretches during the game when I thought that he’d ask Booker if the Phoenix guard wanted to know where he got his scars from, but other than that, Sochan looked like his usual self. The third-year forward wreaked havoc on offense while playing tenacious defense, but the one thing to continue monitoring is his free throw shooting: Sochan went just 4-8 from the line, but I love that he doesn’t let his struggles deter him from attacking the rim.
Vassell scored 25 shots in just 27:41 on 10-14 shooting. I think it’s time that he’s re-inserted with the starting group.