SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — De’Aaron Fox scored 31 points, Victor Wembanyama had 26 points and 13 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz 126-109 on Thursday night.
Fox shot 10 of 13 from the field with six 3-pointers. Wembanyama — along with five blocks — shot 9 of 14 with four 3s one game after a 5-of-21 performance in a loss to Houston.
Keldon Johnson added 21 points and Stephon Castle had 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as the Spurs won their fourth game in their last five.
Utah’s Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds for his second triple-double in as many games, and third of his career. The Jazz went more than 15 seasons (2008-24) without a single triple-double until the consecutive performances by Nurkic.
The center became the first Jazz player to have back-to-back triple doubles since Pete Maravich in January 1975.
Most of Nurkic’s 14 career-high assists came on back-door passes from the high post and resulted in dunks and layups for his teammates — but they didn’t do enough on the defensive end.
Ace Bailey scored a career-high 25 points and Keyonte George had 23, but none in the fourth quarter as the Spurs finished on a 27-10 spurt and handed the Jazz their fifth loss in the last six games.
The Spurs shot 50.6% from the field and 41.9% from 3-point range while outscoring the Jazz on fast-break points 32-10. Utah allows more points than any team in the NBA, an average of 127.3 points.
The teams were tied at 31 after one quarter, but the Spurs went on a 17-2 run over the first 3:24 of the second. Julian Champagnie hit his fourth 3 of the half to cap the surge.
The Jazz played from behind until catching the Spurs to tie it at 99. But the Spurs scored 10 straight points and took a 109-99 lead on Fox’s 3-pointer with 6:54 to play.
The Jazz are 1-11 without Lauri Markkanen, who sat out after a long illness.
Up next
San Antonio: Hosts New Orleans on Sunday.
Utah: Hosts Miami on Saturday.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA