Clippers squander 25-point lead in loss to Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — The Clippers were poised to begin a challenging stretch of their schedule with a statement win, but they couldn’t hold off Victor Wembanyama and the red-hot San Antonio Spurs.

Wembanyama had 27 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Spurs erased a 25-point second-half deficit and handed the Clippers a 117-112 defeat in a wild, back-and-forth finish on Friday night.

Kawhi Leonard had 30 points and nine rebounds for the Clippers (30-32), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end as their latest bid to reach a .500 record fell short.

It was the largest comeback of the season for the Spurs (46-17), who won for the 14th time in their past 15 games to strengthen their hold on second place in the Western Conference.

After defending a 3-point miss by Leonard, Wembanyama broke free for an uncontested dunk that gave the Spurs a 113-112 lead with 16 seconds left. Clippers forward Nicolas Batum turned the ball over on the ensuing possession when his foot crossed the boundary while inbounding the ball.

The Spurs’ Julian Champagnie missed two free throws with 12.9 seconds left, but Wembanyama tipped the rebound of the second miss to Champagnie. Stephon Castle was fouled, made the first free throw, missed the second but grabbed the rebound and finished off the Clippers with a layup with one second remaining.

After trailing 75-50 in the third quarter, the Spurs whittled the margin to 11 points by the end of the period and opened the fourth with an 18-5 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes.

Wembanyama blocked Kris Dunn’s reverse layup, creating a fast break that ended with an alley-oop dunk by Carter Bryant. Devin Vassell followed with a 3-pointer for a 99-97 lead with 7:11 remaining.

Leonard’s steal and dunk put the Clippers back on top with 4:52 remaining. Bryant’s 3-pointer with 3:28 left gave the Spurs a three-point lead before a pair of free throws by Leonard with 1:17 left allowed the Clippers to regain the lead at 109-108. Wembanyama answered with a 3-pointer for another lead change.

Derrick Jones Jr.’s three-point play with 52 seconds left put the Clippers back up by one, before Wembanyama’s late breakaway put the Spurs ahead to stay.

Champagnie scored 17 of his 20 points during the third quarter and grabbed nine rebounds for the Spurs, and De’Aaron Fox had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Brook Lopez had 26 points for the Clippers. Jones had 12, Jordan Miller scored 11 and Kobe Sanders added 10.

San Antonio controlled the first part of the opening quarter, leading by as many as six points early before the Clippers took the lead. Lopez had nine points in the first quarter on a series of floaters, fadeaways and step-back jumpers.

The Clippers took a 56-39 lead with 4½ minutes left in the first half. The lead stretched to 22 points over the next four minutes, capped by Sanders’ reverse layup with 1:05 remaining before halftime. They led 66-46 at the break, San Antonio’s biggest halftime deficit of the season.

Lopez led all scorers with 17 points in the first half. Wembanyama paced the Spurs with 14 points despite playing just 9:55 of the opening half.

San Antonio shot 38% from the field and 30% from 3-point range in the first half. The Spurs have led at halftime in 42 of their 63 games.

UP NEXT

The Clippers play at Memphis on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.