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SAN ANTONIO — A night that featured former San Antonio Spur Kawhi Leonard getting more boos than Victor Wembanyama got cheers seemed to tell the story of what was to be a tensioned contest before it even began.
From the jump, a rowdy Spurs crowd set the tone for how the game was going to go: Kawhi Leonard was public enemy No. 1 and the Spurs were going to have to win.
Only, it didn't work out that way.
An offensive onslaught from the new-look Los Angeles Clippers made sure of that. By the end of the first half, five players were in double figures and by the end of the the game, it was six. Leonard dropped 21 points, while the other members of the core four — Russell Westbrook, Paul George and James Harden — finished with 10, 28 and 13, respectively.
For San Antonio, it was Cedi Osman who led the way in the first half — posting a season-high 17 points — and Keldon Johnson in the second, as both combined for 39 points to add on to Wembanyama's nine. Despite San Antonio's best efforts, however, it ultimately couldn't slow down the high-powered Clippers and fell 124-99.
Wembanyama got the scoring started for the Spurs, knocking down a mid-range jumper to bring the crowd alive, and after that, it was an all-around effort. Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Julian Champagnie and Osman all got in on the action, but it was Los Angeles — fueled by Leonard and company — that pulled away after one.
The second quarter saw more back-and-forth action, but that didn't really ensue until the Clippers mounted a seven-point lead just a few minutes into the period. Osman tacked on a few more points, but once again, the Clippers continued their onslaught and took a double-digit lead to halftime.
The third quarter was the last time the Spurs looked competitive.
What began with a technical free throw from Wembanyama that could have begun a momentum shift quickly turned into more Clippers offense and less San Antonio defense.
Kawhi Leonard continued to find the bottom of the bucket on offense and keep Wembanyama at bay on defense — the rookie only able to hit one midrange shot in the quarter while Leonard helped his team to outsteal San Antonio 15-4. Between those two things and the already lopsided affair that had been materializing over the first two quarters, the end of the third period was also all-but the official end of the game.
San Antonio was unable to make a basket through the first four minutes of the final quarter, and Los Angeles poured it on, amassing a 22-point lead before the Spurs even had a chance to react. And by the halfway mark, the energy in the arena was gone and so were the Spurs' chances at a win.
Not much more went on in the latter half of the quarter, as Los Angeles went on to hold its lead north of 20 points for the remainder of the contest as the Spurs dropped their ninth straight, 124-99.
With the loss, the Spurs fall to 3-11 on their still-young season, and 1-7 at home. Despite the woes, the crowd continues to show out, and will likely do so again when their team takes home court against the Clippers for the second straight time later in the week. There, San Antonio will look to rebound and get back in the win column.
Tipoff from Frost Bank Center is set for 7 p.m. CST Wednesday.
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