Clippers surge late to beat Spurs for first Intuit Dome win

The film session examined how the Clippers had blown double-digits leads in all of their games this season, highlighting how carelessness with the basketball played a role in the team’s first four losses.

Maintain your leverage, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue implored his players during the session; stop turning the ball over at such a high frequency.

To Lue’s dismay, the Clippers started poorly against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, falling behind by 26 points in the first quarter, their defense getting torched amid seven turnovers.

But the Clippers didn’t relent. They picked up their defensive pressure in the second quarter, holding the Spurs to 16 points. They didn’t have a turnover in the quarter and they scored 34 points to pull within eight at halftime. Another strong quarter kept the Clippers within eight at the end of the third.

Behind Norman Powell’s 23 points and Amir Coffey’s 21 points off the bench, the Clippers surged in the fourth quarter to a 113-104 win to snap a three-game losing streak and give the team its first win at the Intuit Dome.

So, Lue was asked, do the Clippers have a new plan?

“What, be down and come back?” Lue asked incredulously. “Man, that’s crazy. We got down, hung our heads early. But I just told the guys to chip away at it. Just continue to keep fighting.”

It was the sixth time Powell has scored 20-plus points this season, the longest streak of his career.

There also was the sizzling shooting by Coffey, who was five for six from three-point range for the Clippers (3-4).

“He was a big reason why we won that game,” Lue said.

Ivica Zubac (17 points, 13 rebounds) had one of the game’s biggest moments when he grabbed an offensive rebound and threw down a left-handed dunk over Spurs center Victor Wembanyama late in the second quarter. The Clippers center dunked over the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama again in the fourth quarter while being fouled.

“I learned today that’s the only way you can, when he’s in the paint, that’s the only thing you can do against him. You got to hit body and try to go dunk everything,” Zubac said of Wembanyama. “He’s just so tall and he’s got the longest wingspan I’ve ever seen. He’s going to block everything if you try to go float [over] him, or hook him. So, you just got to try to go through his chest.”

Wembanyana had 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks for the Spurs, who played without coach Gregg Popovich, who is out indefinitely while dealing with an unspecified health issue.

For the Clippers, the deficit they overcame was tied for the third-biggest regular-season comeback in franchise history. They did it by not giving in and by committing just 11 turnovers.

And finally, as Lue said, the Clippers got the “gorilla off our backs” by winning their first game at home after losing the first four at their new $2-billion arena. The win even had owner Steve Ballmer cracking jokes with his players in the locker room after the game.

“He said basically the same thing I said, like, he was going to have to tear it down and build a new one,” guard James Harden said, laughing. “That tells you how much money he got.”

Etc.

Asked if Kawhi Leonard, who missed the first seven games, is playing this week, Lue said, “No.”

The Clippers have three more games this week: Wednesday at home against Philadelphia and Paul George, who was four for 14 on Monday in his 76ers debut; Friday at Sacramento and Saturday at home against Toronto. The 76ers will continue to be without All-NBA big man Joel Embiid, who has been nursing a knee injury and was suspended for three games for shoving a reporter.