After a wild fourth-quarter and overtime period in Mexico City, the game between San Antonio and Phoenix came down to one play.
With the scores tied at 119 and just 3.8 seconds left on the clock, Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich had a chance to draw up a winning play.
With Derrick White inbounding the ball under the basket, he found LaMarcus Aldridge in the right corner in front of the San Antonio bench. Patty Mills sprinted around Aldridge, taking the handoff and utilised the screen set by Aldridge to curl to his sweet spot in the mid-range.
Splash.
Mills nothing-but-net basket gave the Spurs a 121-119 lead with just 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Aron Baynes attempted a long straightaway three at the buzzer that hit back iron and the game was over.
PATTY MILLS FOR THE @Spurs WIN!!!!!#GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/nGpGYWbA0z
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) December 15, 2019
The plan was perfect from Popovich. The execution was even better from White, Aldridge and Mills.
The game-winner capped off a monster night for Mills, who finished with 26 points on 6-for-14 shooting from beyond the arc, including another huge basket with 1:17 left in the extra period that gave San Antonio a 116-114 lead at the time.
On that play, Mills had the ball stolen by Ricky Rubio, only for Mills to hustle back to catch the Suns guard unaware and theft the ball straight back from behind. Mills then hit full speed and pulled up from the perimeter for the go-ahead triple.
Aron Baynes had 11 points in the 4th to help the @Suns force OT!
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) December 15, 2019
Watch now:
📲🖥: https://t.co/5kUZEUZvvX pic.twitter.com/myfIRnjM3P
It was just that kind of night for Mills, as he only furthered his reputation of being one of Popovich's most trsuted options in crunch time.
On the losing end, Baynes contributions should not be dismissed, with the veteran big man scoring 11 of his 13 points in a monster fourth-quarter. Baynes also added eight rebounds on the night in 20 minutes, though, he sat out the majority of the overtime period as Phoenix continue to monitor his load in what was just his third game back from a calf injury.
With the win, the Spurs now improve to 10-15 on the season, incredibly just one game out of the 8th seed in the Western Conference. The Suns hold that spot for now, with an 11-14 mark.
