Rudy Gay poured in a tiebreaking, 21-foot jump shot as time expired to lift the San Antonio Spurs to a 126-124 win over the visiting Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

San Antonio led by four points after Davis Bertans barely beat the shot clock with a 27-foot 3-pointer with 33.3 seconds to play. Phoenix's Devin Booker then cut the lead to two points with a pullup jumper with 24.9 seconds remaining, and Josh Jackson tied the score with a dunk with 19.6 seconds left after a Booker steal.

Gay then took the game in his hands, patiently working against Phoenix defender Kelly Oubre Jr. a step inside the arc before letting fly his deciding shot just before the buzzer and granting the Spurs their third win in a row.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Bertans scored 18, Marco Belinelli added 17, Gay contributed 16 points, Derrick White had 15, and Patty Mills and Bryn Forbes tallied 12 points each for San Antonio.

Booker paced all scorers with 38 points. Jamal Crawford added 22 for the Suns, Mikal Bridges poured in 17 points, Jackson and Oubre rang up 14 each, and Richaun Holmes posted 10 points for Phoenix.

It was the ninth straight loss for Phoenix, its second-longest losing streak of the season. The Suns dropped 10 games in a row from Nov. 25 to Dec. 11.

Despite the result, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich fumed about his team's play.

"We were really fortunate to win the game," Popovich said. "I thought that they outplayed us, outcoached us, 'out-physical-ed' us, out-executed us. We had no respect for them or for the game. We didn't play with each other. It was a pathetic performance, and Phoenix got robbed."

Popovich then walked away from the pack of reporters without further comment and without taking questions.

The game was tied at 33 after the first period and stayed tight throughout the first half, with the Spurs leading by as many as six points before settling for a 70-67 lead at halftime.

The game remained close during the first six minutes of the third quarter before the Spurs began to pull away, forging a 14-2 run that featured a three-point play by Bertans and 3-pointers from Mills and Belinelli, the latter of which gave San Antonio a 94-82 lead with 2:20 to play in the period.

Phoenix kept chasing, though, closing the quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 96-91 heading into the final 12 minutes.

San Antonio played without leading scorer DeMar DeRozan, who missed his third straight game with a balky left knee.

The Suns were also short-handed, missing rookie center Deandre Ayton, the first pick in last year's NBA draft, for the sixth straight game due to of a sprained left ankle. Rookie guard De'Anthony Melton was out for his third consecutive contest because of a sprained right ankle.

--Field Level Media