The San Antonio Spurs closed out their Las Vegas Summer League schedule with an 86-81 win over the Phoenix Suns on July 18 at the Thomas & Mack Center, and the finish belonged entirely to guard Miles Kelly.
Kelly scored San Antonio’s final 12 points — seven of them from the free-throw line — to seal a game that the Spurs trailed at halftime. After Phoenix built a 43-39 lead through two quarters, outscoring San Antonio by 11 in the second period, Kelly took over down the stretch. He discussed the performance in an on-court postgame interview.
Free throws win games. Every two-a-day coach in Texas has preached that until he’s blue in the face, and Kelly proved it on a Saturday night in Vegas. You can run all the fancy sets you want, but when the game’s on the line, it comes down to who can step to the stripe and knock them down with nobody to blame but yourself. The film doesn’t lie.
The game was a finale for both squads, who each entered at 3-1. The Spurs had reeled off three straight wins after dropping their opener to the Atlanta Hawks. The Suns had won two in a row following a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Both rosters were depleted by design — Phoenix sat first-round pick Khaman Maluach, along with Rasheer Fleming, Koa Peat, and Darius Brown II. The Spurs similarly held out their top draft picks.
Maluach had been the Suns’ standout in Vegas, posting a double-double in all four of their games — 19.5 points on 53.2% shooting and 12.8 rebounds. The 7-footer had also hit 40% of his threes, going 8-of-20 from beyond the arc. With him watching from the bench, Javonte Cooke carried the early load, scoring a team-high 10 points in the first half. Phoenix started Devin Askew, Corey Camper Jr., Cooke, Jake Stephens, and Koby Brea.
The Spurs’ Hyunjung Lee was interviewed during the first-half intermission, a moment that drew attention given the Korean guard’s continued presence in San Antonio’s developmental pipeline. Lee has spent time with the Spurs’ G League affiliate and remains one of the organization’s international prospects.
Both teams finished outside the Summer League championship tournament bracket — San Antonio sixth in the standings, Phoenix seventh — which earned them a fifth and final consolation game. The late Saturday tip-off was televised on Prime Video.
For Kelly, the closing burst was the kind of statement that keeps a player on a roster through September. Twelve straight points in a one-possession game, with more than half coming at the line — that’s not flash. That’s finishing.
Watch
Miles Kelly postgame interview
Sources
- Yahoo Sports — Suns Summer League: Phoenix concluding schedule vs. Spurs
- Yahoo Sports — It’s time for Summer League Basketball: Spurs vs. Suns
- Streamable — Miles Kelly postgame interview
- Streamable — Hyunjung Lee first-half interview