SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama had 27 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks as the San Antonio Spurs rallied from a 25-point deficit to beat the Clippers 116-112 on Friday night.
Kawhi Leonard had 30 points and nine rebounds for the Clippers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Brook Lopez had 26 points for the Clippers but committed a costly turnover in the final seconds when he took an inbounds pass from Nicolas Batum and threw it back to him while Batum still had a foot out of bounds.
San Antonio (46-17) has won 14 of 15 and is second in the Western Conference.
After defending a missed three-pointer by Leonard, Wembanyama broke free for an uncontested dunk that gave the Spurs a 113-112 lead with 16 seconds left. After the Clippers turned it over, the Spurs’ Julian Champagnie was fouled and missed both free throws, but San Antonio got the rebound. Then it was Stephon Castle’s turn to rebound his missed free throw and make a layup with one second remaining.
It was all Clippers for most of the first three quarters, despite missing forward John Collins (neck), point guard Darius Garland (toe) and center Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who suffered a season-ending foot injury Wednesday.
The Clippers were trying to get back to .500 for the first time since Nov. 3, and 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% on three-pointers in the half to trail 66-46, its biggest halftime deficit of the season.
After trailing 75-50 in the third, the Spurs were ignited by Champagnie, who scored 17 points in the quarter, making four threes. They 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 three-pointer for a 99-97 lead.
Leonard scored six straight points for the Clippers, and the lead went back and forth, but down the stretch Wembanyama had the answer for each Clippers score.
Champagnie finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs, and De’Aaron Fox had 19 points and nine rebounds.
Up next for the Clippers: at Memphis on Saturday.