SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson held his head high through several dismal seasons, promising fans it would not always be so bleak.
That vow was fulfilled in dramatic fashion on Thursday night as San Antonio rallied in the final minute to beat the Phoenix Suns 101-100 and clinch its first playoff berth since 2019.
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Victor Wembanyama’s 17-foot, pullup jumper with a second left ended a six-season postseason drought as the Spurs secured a top-six finish in the Western Conference.
“When you’re building something, it doesn’t happen overnight,” Johnson said. “It’s not something that you get all these players and then you just say, ‘Oh, damn, we good.’ It took some time and it took some development. It took some growing up and those type of things. And slowly but surely we here.”
San Antonio (52-18) is three games behind Oklahoma City (55-15) for the West’s No. 1 seed.
A return to the postseason has stirred memories of the Spurs’ historic run when they won five NBA championships while matching a league record with 22 straight postseason appearances beginning in 1998. The run was fueled by Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, but the Spurs’ fortunes changed as they retired.
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San Antonio finished 22-60 in 2022-23 and in 2023-24, coming one win shy of matching a franchise record for futility in back-to-back seasons. The first resulted in the Spurs earning the No. 1 pick, which they used to select Wembanyama in 2023. The second led to the fourth pick in 2024, when they selected Stephon Castle.
San Antonio has built its depth around their back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners, including the additions of De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes along with rookie Dylan Harper and the retention of veterans Johnson, Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie.
Still, Wembanyama has spurred San Antonio’s resurgence. The 7-foot-4 center is averaging 24.3 points and 11.2 rebounds this season and is a leading candidate to win the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Wembanyama had 34 points and 12 rebounds against Phoenix, sealing a furious final-minute rally with the game-winner over Oso Ighodaro.
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“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.”
The celebration continued after the game as Johnson grabbed a microphone and led the sellout crowd in an “M-V-P” chant for Wembanyama.
“I feel like, like I said out there, like I said in the interview, he’s playing at an MVP type level,” Johnson said. “And it’s hard to deny when he’s doing what he’s doing on both ends of the court. And he’s leading us night in and night out to win.”
For his part, Wembanyama is happy but not satisfied with simply making the playoffs.
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Wembanyama has said he wants the Spurs to win 60 games. He also believes San Antonio can improve offensively and defensively for what he hopes is a long postseason run.
“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.”
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