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 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. Stephon Castle closed out the win by rebounding his own missed free throw and converting a layup with one second remaining.
After trailing 75-50 in the third quarter, the Spurs 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.
Julian Champagnie finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs, and De’Aaron Fox had 19 points and nine rebounds.
Brook Lopez had 26 points for the Clippers.
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.
San Antonio shot 38% from the field and 30% from 3-point range in the first half to trail 66-46 at the break, its biggest halftime deficit of the season. The Spurs have led at halftime in 42 of their 63 games.
More to come on this story.
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The Clippers play at Memphis on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.
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