5 takeaways from Suns' narrow road win over Spurs in extending win streak to 13 in a row

SAN ANTONIO — They escaped on the road.

Again.

The Suns pulled out their 13th consecutive win, 115-111, Monday night at San Antonio after nearly blowing a 15-point lead with under five minutes remaining at AT&T Center.

Devin Booker led the Suns (14-3) with 23 while Deandre Ayton posted a double-double of 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Suns are four wins shy of tying the franchise record of consecutive victories of 17 set in the 2006-07 season.

This one brought back memories of last week's narrow 99-96 win at Minnesota, another sub .500 team. The Spurs (4-12) cut it down to three after Dejounte Murray's strip of Chris Paul and score with 15.2 seconds left.

The Suns finished the game with 15 turnovers that led to 22 Spurs' points.

Lonnie Walker IV forced a jump ball on Devin Booker on the ensuing inbounds play, actually won the tip, but Booker fought to track the ball down after it was deflected and got fouled.

Booker would split two free throws to make final difference four.

Here are five takeaways from the Suns' win on second of a back-to-back.

1. The Suns showed once again, on a 10-0 run in the fourth in taking a 110-95 lead with 4:20 left, the ability to create, separate late with clutch shooting, execution and hustle.

102-95 Suns: Paul finds Ayton for inside bucket after Jae Crowder drew defense running to the corner for a look at 3.

104-95 Suns: Mikal Bridges leaks out for transition layup.

107-95 Suns: Bridges' offensive rebound of Paul's missed 3 and putback. Bridges was fouled on shot and made ensuing free throw as those were his only points of the night.

110-95 Suns: Booker 3.

Now the Spurs was part of that equation as they shot 0-for-4 during that run with Murray missing an open 3 on his triple-double night of 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but Phoenix came through during a pivotal moment of the game.

2. The rotations felt like a playoff game.

With Abdel Nader (knee injury management) out, Monty Williams had a three-guard lineup out there with Devin Booker, Cameron Payne and Landry Shamet.

At 6-5, Booker is big enough to play the 3. When he plays off the ball, that creates instant separation for Payne and Shamet to be aggressive.

Then they had another lineup of Shamet, Payne, Cam Johnson and JaVale McGee playing with Bridges. So Williams is having a starter out there with four reserves.

Now the Ayton-McGee rotation remained, but expect to see more of that nine-man look moving forward even when Nader returns.

3. Ayton showed some different elements to his game.

He put the ball on the floor on the short roll, faked the pass to Booker and drew a foul going to the basket and sealed the defender to receive a pass in the lane for two.

Now neither of these moves off the bounce were fluid.

He later turned the ball over looking to dribble, but the more he's able to score outside of lobs, the more difficult the Suns could be to defend.

4. The Spurs gave Phoenix problems with their activity on the offensive glass, but they just couldn't make a shot from deep or the line.

San Antonio shot 5-of-20 from 3, 8-of-16 on free throws and still only lost by four.

The Spurs still play with that same effort that made those championship teams special. They did enough to have Williams calling timeout partly out of frustration with his own team, but the Spurs were part of that equation.

However, San Antonio doesn't have any Tim Duncans, David Robinsons, Tony Parkers or Manu Ginobilis right now.

Murray is nice. Like Devin Vassell, but the Spurs need some big-time studs to come here to get this going again.

5. Williams took issue with the bench after the escape in Sacramento.

That unit has been making amends ever since.

They closed out Denver on Monday to give the starters essential rest going into the second of a back-to-back as Johnson scored a career-high 22 points.

A night later, Payne dropped 20.

Now Williams needed to go back to the starters in the fourth, but Payne and Shamet set the table for the starters to close out the Spurs.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 takeaways from Spurs dramatic road victory at Spurs to win 13th straight