Harrison Barnes netted a season-best 31 points and De’Aaron Fox added 29, including 11 in the final three minutes, as the San Antonio Spurs were at their best late in a 126-119 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday.
San Antonio led by four points at halftime before Memphis rallied in the back-and-forth game to carry an 98-97 edge into the final 12 minutes.
Both teams held the lead in the fourth before the Spurs’ Keldon Johnson canned a 3-pointer with 3:17 left to put San Antonio in front 115-113 on the game’s 23rd lead change. Fox then hit a running jumper, a pair of free throws, a 3-pointer and four more free throws to allow the Spurs to clinch the win.
San Antonio has won three of its past four games while the Grizzlies had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Dylan Harper added 15 points for the Spurs, Devin Vassell scored 12 and Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan contributed 11 each.
Cam Spencer led Memphis with 21 points. Jaylen Wells added 20 while Zach Edey amassed 19 points and 15 rebounds, John Konchar scored 13 points, Vince Williams Jr. had 12 and Jock Landale hit for 10.
Carter Bryant’s 3-pointer — part of the Spurs’ 7-of-9 showing from beyond the arc in the first quarter — granted San Antonio a 36-32 lead through 12 minutes.
After a Memphis flurry, Sochan’s alley-oop dunk off a Vassell lob tied the game at 44-44 with 6:35 left in the second quarter. The lead changed hands three times — the third on a running 3-pointer by Fox to put San Antonio ahead 52-50 — before the Grizzlies retied the game.
Fox’s pullup three with 1:01 left in the half pushed the Spurs’ advantage to seven points before a 3-pointer by Williams culled Memphis’ deficit to 63-59 at the break.
San Antonio rebuilt its lead to seven points on a Barnes three-point play with 5:36 to play in the third quarter. The Grizzlies clawed back to even and went in front on Spencer’s four-point play with 31 seconds left in the period.
