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 Friday night, the young duo served as a 1-2 punch off the bench
to help wear down and finally finish off the San Antonio Spurs with
a furious fourth-quarter surge.
Thomas had 18 of his 23 points in the second half and Len had career
highs with 10 points and 11 rebounds as the Suns ended the game on a
12-2 run and rallied to beat the Spurs 94-89 and sweep a two-game
homestand to open the season.
The Spurs led by as many as 15 points but had only six baskets in an
18-point fourth quarter. Playing without guard Patty Mills and
center Tiago Splitter, they ran out of gas late, scoring two points
in the final five minutes and couldn't hold off the young Suns.
"The shots they were making in the first half and the third quarter
they weren't making in the fourth quarter," said Thomas, who has led
the Suns with 23 points in each of the first two games. "The Spurs
are an older team and we want to push the pace, especially against
them, and play as fast as possible.
 Forward Markieff Morris added 20 points and 11 rebounds for the
Suns, who were 11-18 against Western Conference playoff teams in
last year's 48-win season that wasn't good enough to reach the
postseason. But their first test this year against the defending NBA
champions had an impressive result.
Tony Parker had 19 points for the Spurs and Tim Duncan added 16
points and nine rebounds. Kawhi Leonard, the NBA Finals MVP a year
ago and playing for the first time this season, missed all five of
his shots from the field and managed six points and eight rebounds
in 23 minutes.
"I know we're supposed to be 82-0 but I'm guessing we're going to
lose some more games before the season is over," San Antonio coach
Gregg Popovich said. "I thought the last five minutes their
physicality and aggressiveness was great. I thought it forced us
into turnovers and bas shots, thus the outcome of the game."
The Spurs led by five at 87-82 on an Austin Daye 3-pointer with 5:09
left. But the Suns kept pushing the pace and scoring and took their
first lead of the game when Thomas finished off a Morris fastbreak
pass to make it 88-87 with 3:34 left to play.
Phoenix took their biggest at 92-87 on two great plays by Len, the
7-foot-1 Ukranian who was taken fifth overall in the 2013 draft but
played only 362 minutes in his rookie season. Len tipped out an
offensive rebound of a Markieff Morris miss to keep a possession
alive and then fed Morris for a dunk with 1:09 left to make it 92-87
Suns.
"Coach drew up a play for (Eric Bledsoe) and he passed to me and I
saw Markieff's guy drop down and leave him open," Len said. "Last
year was the toughest year for me in basketball. I wanted to get out
there but I couldn't, so I stayed in the weight room and worked on
other stuff. Now I'm healthy and I'm getting comfortable."
Len had a measure of success in his first meeting against Duncan, a
player he had studied carefully.
"I watched a lot of film on Tim Duncan the whole summer." He said.
"He's one of the best big men to play the game. We wanted to make
him shoot contested jump shots."
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The Spurs got back within three on two Manu Ginobili free throws and
had a chance to tie the game down three with 6.5 seconds left, but
forward Boris Diaw was called for a five-second violation and two
Eric Bledsoe free throws with 4.5 seconds left sealed the game.
"We were in a position the whole night, we just didn't execute down
the stretch," said Duncan who missed both is shots from the field in
the final quarter and a pair of free throws with 3:02 left. "That's
the difference in a lot of games. Some great plays by the young kid,
Alex Len, good rebounds by him."
The Suns put up 33 points and hit six 3-pointers in the first
quarter of Wednesday's 119-99 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers, but it
was a different story against the Spurs. They missed 13 of 14 shots
to end the quarter and the Spurs used an 18-3 run to lead by as many
as 15.
Phoenix warmed up and rebounded quickly with a 13-2 run to start the
second quarter and eventually tied the game when. Bledsoe hit Len on
the fastbreak for a reverse, alley-oop slam to tie the game at 30
with six minutes left in the half. Len had 10 points in 16
first-half minutes.
But the Spurs regained their stagger immediately and stretched their
lead to 45-36 at the half. Parker led all scorers with 14 points in
the first half and added four assists. The Suns pushed hard again in
the third but the Spurs took a 71-67 lead to the fourth quarter when
Diaw capped an eight-point quarter by beating the buzzer with a
fastbreak layin.
NOTES: The Spurs are still without C Tiago Splitter (calf) and G
Patty Mills (shoulder). ... F Kawhi Leonard replaced Marco
Bellinelli in the starting lineup and C Austin Daye, who did not
play in the 101-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday,
started in place of Matt Bonner. The 16 3-pointers Phoenix made in
the 119-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday was the most
by a Suns team since they made 17 against Charlotte on Dec. 19,
2012. ... G Isaiah Thomas had 23 points in his Phoenix debut against
the Lakers, the most by a Sun in his first game since Tom Gugliotta
had 24 in the strike-shortened 1999-2000 season. It was the most
ever by a Sun who came off the bench in his debut. ... F P.J. Tucker
served the second his three-game suspension for Phoenix.
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