The inspiration of the Australian point guard Patty Mills, who contributed 27 points, including eight triples, decided the victory on the road (113-116) of the San Antonio Spurs against the Los Angeles Clippers and broke a streak of four consecutive losses.
Although he missed a personnel throw, which gave the Clippers the option to force overtime with 5.7 seconds remaining, Mills emerged as the winning factor of surprise for the Spurs, who also had the support of the starting point guard, young Dejounte Murray, who contributed 21 points.
While power forward Rudy Gay had 16 points, center LaMarcus Aldridge had 14 and young guard Keldon Johnson set a career-high 11 rebounds as the leader of the Spurs inside game.
Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points as the Clippers and game leader, in addition to posting a double-double with 10 assists.
The former Spurs player came off the Clippers in their attempt to come back with 11 points in the third period, when point guard Patrick Beverley scored three triples and the Los Angeles team approached a goal.
French forward Nicolas Batum scored 21 points and nine rebounds, and Beverley finished with 20 points, but in the end they could not avoid the defeat of the Clippers (5-3), who played without star forward Paul George, who could not recover from the sprain he suffered last Sunday in the game they beat the Phoenix Suns.
The absence of George, the Clippers’ top scorer, left them without the contribution of averages of 25.1 points; 5.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists.
The Spurs opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 streak that restored their lead to double digits. Mills had three straight triples to put the score at 96-111.
But the Clippers continued to fight for the comeback, ending the game on a 17-5 streak despite Leonard scoring just two points in the fourth quarter when he missed his shot from the right side with five seconds to go.
The Clippers scored 40 points in the third that ended with an 84-85 run. Leonard had 11 points and Beverley scored three 3-pointers to help them come back from 19 points they had against at the end of the first half of the game.
The Spurs opened the second quarter on an 18-3 run that took their partial lead to 30-54. Five players scored, led by Murray with at least five points. Leonard scored the Clippers last 11 points.
