San Antonio Spurs at Sacramento Kings

Sabonis’ dunk with 7.7 seconds left sends Kings past Spurs 131-129

Sabonis added 17 rebounds and nine assists, posting his 45th straight double-double.

“Just to get this win, it’s great,” Sabonis said. “It looked pretty ugly there with a minute left. ... Thankfully we got the win, but there’s still a lot to learn.”

De’Aaron Fox scored 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter before fouling out in the final minute.

The Spurs were Victor Wembanyama due to a sprained right ankle. The star rookie is expected to also miss Saturday’s game at Golden State.

San Antonio fell to 0-7 without Wembanyama this season.

The Spurs also lost Cedi Osman to a sprained ankle in the second quarter. He did not return.

With the Kings trailing 129-126, Malik Monk hit a tying 3-pointer with 23.1 seconds left. Sabonis followed with a steal and transition dunk to put Sacramento in front.

Devin Vassell missed a 3 in the final seconds and Jeremy Sochan missed a follow attempt at the buzzer.

Sacramento finished the game on a 7-0 run.

“Obviously, we’d rather not have been in that position, but at the end of the day, it’s a close game against an NBA team,” Fox said. “You try to execute down the stretch and try to get stops whenever you can.”

Vassell led the Spurs with 30 points and nine assists.

“He was aggressive,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “He was confident offensively. He always busts his butt on defense. I thought he did a good job.”

Malaki Branham added 23 points, and Keldon Johnson and Zach Collins each had 22, but San Antonio lost its seventh straight road game.

“We still make too many young, mental errors that cost us when we’re in a close game,” Popovich said.

Sacramento opened the second quarter on an 11-0 run to build a 41-31 lead. Later in the period, the Kings used a 12-0 spurt to push their advantage to 61-41.

The Spurs closed the gap to 71-59 at halftime and pulled within two midway through the third quarter.

San Antonio took a 105-103 lead early in the fourth on a pair of free throws by Sochan and followed with a 9-1 surge to extend the advantage to 114-106.

The Kings dominated inside, outscoring San Antonio 76-52 in the paint.

The Spurs made all 21 of their free throws, while Sacramento went 17 of 18.

UP NEXT

Spurs: Play at Golden State on Saturday.

Kings: Will host Houston on Sunday.

Regular Season Series

SAC wins series 3-0