NBA: Spurs use late surge to rally past struggling Jazz

Harrison Barnes had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Paul made key plays down the stretch and finished with another double-double as the San Antonio Spurs rallied in the fourth for a 126-118 win over the visiting Utah Jazz on Thursday.

The Jazz led by as many as 20 points late in the first half and by four entering the final quarter before San Antonio flipped the script, taking a 106-103 advantage on Barnes' breakaway dunk with 6:26 left to play.

The Spurs continued to pull away. Paul knocked down a 3-pointer, Stephon Castle completed a three-point play and Paul hit a jumper to give San Antonio a 117-110 lead with 2:42 remaining. Barnes' 3-pointer with 50.2 seconds left pushed the lead to 10 points and helped send San Antonio to its second straight win.

Zach Collins and Castle had 18 points each for the Spurs. Julian Champagnie scored 14 and Paul racked up 13 points and 11 assists for his third double-double in the past four games. Keldon Johnson added 12 points and Tre Jones and Charles Bassey finished with 11 apiece.

San Antonio played without injured star center Victor Wembanyama (bruised right knee) and guard Devin Vassell (sore left knee) for the third consecutive game.

The Jazz's Lauri Markkanen led all scorers with 27 points. Keyonte George added 19 and Brice Sensabaugh and John Collins scored 18 each for Utah, which has dropped four straight games and went winless on its road trip that concluded Thursday.

The Jazz led 32-17 after the opening quarter. San Antonio began the second quarter with an 11-5 run capped by two free throws by Barnes to pull to within nine points. The Jazz swung back, rebuilding their lead to 13 points after Markkanen's layup with 6:54 to play in the quarter.

Utah pushed the lead to 20 points on back-to-back Markkanen 3-pointers, the latter with 1:09 remaining in the quarter, and settled for a 67-51 advantage at the break.

Markkanen led all scorers with 19 points before halftime. Sensabaugh scored 13 and John Collins added 10 for the Jazz. Barnes paced San Antonio with 17 points while Zach Collins had 13 in the first half.

--Field Level Media/Reuters