Suns Explain Latest Collapse in Loss to Spurs

"It's like the last three or four, whatever it is. We've shown fight. We've been right there to the end. Just felt short," Suns star Devin Booker said after the loss in San Antonio.

After Fleming's missed free throws with 11 seconds remaining, Wembanyama made an unfortunate but tough shot over Oso Ighodaro. Typically teams might have double-teamed Wemby in a game-winning scenario such as Thursday night, though Phoenix opted not to.

"He held it so you don't know exactly when he's going to go. Just with their spacing. They had pretty good spacing. They had their best shooter on the strong side corner so we didn't want to go that way," Suns coach Jordan Ott said post-game (h/t Duane Rankin).

"(Jordan Goodwin) was coming. He was definitely coming and he just dribbled away from it. It was a good situation to be in. Sure we wish Oso was a little bit taller, but that's one of the biggest guys in the league. He shot over the top. Loved to get it out of his hands probably in that situation the next time. Didn't know if they'd go to him or (De'Aaron Fox). Fox is an elite clutch-time player. So we kind of had an awareness for both of those guys. He just went away from the double team."

Fleming told Rankin and other reporters after the game both free throws felt good before rimming out, and the noise in San Antonio wasn't a factor before adding:

"We just need to keep going. We were right there, but games can change just like that. We were up for the most part. It just flipped just like that off little stuff like the free throws, but other stuff happened in the game, too. It can just change just like that, but overall, we're right there. We can just turn this around just as fast as that game turned around. So we just all need to keep our heads up."

The Suns are three games back from the West's sixth seed, which would see them completely avoid the play-in tournament. Phoenix is back home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday.