Photos by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images The game was close all night, but a fourth quarter surge put the game away for the Wemby-less Silver and Black The Spurs played a spirited preseason contest tonight against the Jazz that was close throughout. With Victor Wembanyama resting tonight, Pop played a lot of two point guard lineups and it worked pretty well against the young Jazz, who were resting Lauri Markkannen and several other veterans. Chris Paul’s influence extended to the other young Spurs point guards who played well, sometimes on the court with CP3 at the same time. The Silver and Black put the game away in the fourth quarter as Blake Wesley took over and assumed the role the Chris Paul played earlier in the game and the Spurs won by six, with great games from Tre Jones, Chris Paul, Keldon Johnson and Stephon Castle. Observations Wemby was out tonight. I think that a lot of fans think that Victor is going to play big minutes after averaging about 29 minutes per game last year, and missing 11 games completely. I think that’s probably what we’ll see again this year. There’s no reason to overstress the young guy’s body. Tonight was the first game for Zach Collins after separating his shoulder in the season finale last season against the Pistons. He’s under contract this year season next, and the Spurs are looking for more production from him this year and a better fit with Wembanyama. The Spurs played both Chris Paul and Tre Jones together in the game, and it kind of worked as San Antonio evened the score after trailing early. Paul got replaced by Blake Wesley, who has been one of the bright spots of the preseason, and the Spur continued to shine, trailing 27-29 after the first quarter. Walker Kessler is an elite rim defender. The Spurs kept trying him, he kept denying them. The Jazz led 53-52 at the half, led by Cody Williams with 11 points. I forgot that Patty Mills was on the Jazz. It’s too bad he didn’t play tonight. Keldon Johnson sure wears a lot of kinesiology tape, but it seems to work for him, as he seems to be just as physical as he was before he lost 20 lbs, and a little quicker. Jeremy Sochan seems a lot smoother and more comfortable now that he’s no longer required to be one of the main ball handlers on the team. He’s better casted as a glue guy who can get rebounds and opportunistic points without having the ball in his hands all of the time. Julian Champagnie is exactly what the Spurs need. He’s not an elite athlete, but he’s a good shooter and he’ll get a lot more opportunities at open shots with Chris Paul distributing the rock. The Jazz got some nice minutes from Kyle Filipowski and led 91-88 after three quarters. Will Hardy is doing a great job with this young team. They played really well together even though most of the players were rookies and second year players. The Spurs went on an 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter triggered by defense. With about 7 minutes left, Chris Paul’s night was done, then Blake Wesley took over and kept it going as the quickest Spur took over the game breaking down the Jazz defense and distributing the ball to Barnes, Castle and Mamu for easy baskets. The Jazz closed things up but a final run led by Wesley, Castle and Riley Minix closed it out as the Spurs weathered a flurry from Mykhailiuk. Sidy Cissoko also had his best appearance of the preseason as he helped the Spurs close it out 126-120. The Spurs finish out the preseason next week at Miami on Tuesday and in Houston on Thursday night. The real games start for the Spurs on October 24 at Dallas against Luka Doncic, Klay Thompson and the Mavericks.