San Antonio (USA), May 16 (EFE) .- The Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs 121-123 away this Sunday and maintained their aspirations to finish as leaders of the Western Conference and best record in the league.
The reserve guard-forward E’Twaun Moore emerged as the protagonist of the meeting, the last of the regular season.
The Suns depend on what the Utah Jazz does in their duel tonight against the Sacraments King, who they will have to beat on the road if they want to finish leaders and with the field advantage for as long as they are in the playoffs. .
A loss to the Jazz would see both teams tied at 51-21, but the Suns have the lead in the tiebreaker after sweeping the series between them.
Despite the rest absences of Hispanic guard Devin Booker and veteran point guard Chris Paul, the Suns were met with the surprise contribution of Moore who scored 22 points – team leader – and made a triple with 2.2 seconds left that ensured the victory of the Phoenix team.
The Suns finished the regular season with the third consecutive victory and the ninth in the last 12 disputed in addition to being the new champions of the Pacific Division, where the Los Angeles Lakers were the big favorites.
Also earlier, with 1:08 minutes to go, Moore hit a 3-pointer that halted Spors’ 9-0 run that went ahead on the scoreboard.
Reserve forward Keita Bates-Diop hit the basket after catching the ball from the second free throw missed by his teammate, rookie point guard Tre Jones, who also came off the bench, to put San Antonio ahead 121-120 with 10 seconds left.
But Moore’s inspiration kept the Spurs from finishing the regular season with victory, although the result had no effect on the final standings, given that they were already secured 10th place in the Western Conference.
The Spurs will have to play next Tuesday, on the road, the play-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies, who finished ninth, after losing this Sunday at home 113-101 against the Golden State Warriors, who are eighth.
Along with Moore, seven other players had double-digit numbers, including 54 points from the reserves, led by guard Jevon Carter and forward Cameron Payne, who each had 19 points.
While forward DeMar DeRozan had 23 points as the leader of the Spurs, which closed the regular season with the fourth consecutive loss and the tenth in the last 12 games played.
Austrian center Jakob Poeltl finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds and Bates-Diop had nine points in 12 minutes.
(c) EFE Agency