Despite Victor Wembanyama being sidelined on Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs managed to achieve a significant surprise victory against the Phoenix Suns.

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich mentioned that Wembanyama’s left ankle injury is not severe and expressed optimism about his chances of participating in the upcoming game against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night, stating the probability as slightly above 50-50.

Securing the 104-102 win over the Suns in Wembanyama’s absence added extra jubilation to San Antonio (16-56).

“That’s a big win,” Devin Vassell shouted over the P.A. system after the game. “That’s a big win.”

Jeremy Sochan delivered a remarkable performance with 26 points, including a crucial 3-pointer towards the end, and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to compensate for the absence of San Antonio’s promising Rookie of the Year contender.

“He’s a key piece we are missing, and I think that makes us, we need to be more connected in that sense if we are missing him,” Sochan said of Wembanyama. “We got to do stuff he does, whether that’s defense, rebounding, making it difficult for people to score in the paint, because we don’t have him as a key piece.”

The game marked a significant reversal from the Spurs’ 131-106 defeat to the Suns on Saturday. They engineered a 16-0 run in the second half, surging to an 83-74 lead early in the final quarter on Monday after trailing by nine late in the third.

This victory marked San Antonio’s second triumph during an eight-game home stretch and put an end to a three-game losing streak.

In contrast, the Jazz (29-43) encountered a rough patch at home on Monday night, faltering in the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite an outstanding performance by Lauri Markkanen, Utah squandered a promising chance to surprise the Mavericks, succumbing to a 115-105 loss as Dallas mounted a 16-2 run in the final quarter.

The Jazz held a one-point lead following a Collin Sexton 3-pointer with ten minutes left, but the momentum shifted as Luka Doncic and his teammates took charge. Utah struggled in the fourth quarter, managing only seven field goals and scoring a mere 17 points.

This starkly contrasted with the first half, where Utah led 41-37 after the opening quarter and maintained a 66-61 advantage at halftime.

“In the second half offensively, I thought we gave into fatigue and went into auto pilot,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “The ball started to stick, our spacing wasn’t as crisp and the decisions weren’t being made as quickly.”

Markkanen concluded with 34 points and six successful 3-pointers, John Collins contributed 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Sexton added 20 points to the tally.

“We got to be able to execute,” said Markkanen, who scored 20 in the opening half. “Offensively, we have to execute the whole game and keep playing the way we played in the first three (quarters). Move the ball and create for each other and be focused through the whole 48.”

Utah emerged victorious in the first two encounters with San Antonio this season — with scores of 130-118 on Dec. 26 and 128-109 on Feb. 25.