Victor Wembanyama racked up 27 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Julian Champagnie added 20 points, 17 of them in the pivotal third quarter, as the host San Antonio Spurs came back from 25 points down to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-112 on Friday.
It was the Spurs’ largest comeback of the season, their third win in a row and their 14th victory in their past 15 games.
The Clippers led by 20 points at halftime and by 25 points early in the third quarter. San Antonio whittled the margin to 11 points at the end of the third before using a 16-1 run capped by a Devin Vassell 3-pointer to take a 99-97 lead with 7:11 to play.
Kawhi Leonard’s steal and dunk put the Clippers back on top with 4:52 remaining. Carter 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 Los Angeles to regain the lead at 109-108. Wembanyama answered with a 3-pointer to flip-flop the lead again.
Derrick Jones Jr.’s three-point play with 52 seconds to go put the Clippers up by one, and Wembanyama responded with a dunk on the breakaway to make it 113-112 San Antonio.
After a turnover by the Clippers, 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.
De’Aaron Fox finished with 19 points for San Antonio, with Vassell scoring 11 and Keldon Johnson and Luke Kornet adding 10 each as the Spurs won both games of a back-to-back.
Leonard led all scorers with 30 points while Brook Lopez added 26, Jones had 12, Jordan Miller tallied 11 and Kobe Sanders hit for 10.
San Antonio controlled the first part of the opening quarter, leading by as many as six points early on before the Clippers took the lead. Sanders’ reverse layup with 1:05 remaining before halftime gave the Clippers a 22-point advantage, the largest home deficit for the Spurs this season. Los Angeles went into the break with a 66-46 lead.
Lopez led all scorers with 17 points in the first half, while Leonard added 11 for the Clippers. Wembanyama paced the Spurs with 14 points despite playing just 9:55 of the opening half.
–Field Level Media
