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LA Clippers make history with 25-point blown lead vs. Spurs
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- LA Clippers make history with 25-point blown lead vs. Spurs
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The LA Clippers came into Friday night's contest against the San Antonio Spurs having won three games in a row and looking to earn a big victory against the second seed in the Western Conference. With another game on Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies , the Clippers needed a big win.
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Unfortunately, just the opposite happened.
The Clippers dominated the first half against the Spurs, leading 69-49 at the half. They took their biggest lead of the game at 75-50 with a little over nine minutes remaining in the game, and LA appeared to be headed towards an easy second half.
But San Antonio roared back behind Julian Champagnie , Victor Wembanyama , and De'Aaron Fox. Champagnie recorded 17 points in the third quarter on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor, cutting the Clippers' 25-point lead down to 11 entering the fourth quarter.
The Spurs then started the fourth quarter on an 18-5 run to take a 99-97 lead over the Clippers. Both teams exchanged buckets until the final seconds, when the Clippers had a costly turnover inbounding the ball with 14.9 seconds remaining down one.
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Even then, Julian Champagnie missed two free throws for a three-point lead, giving the Clippers a chance to win, only for San Antonio to secure an offensive rebound and send Stephon Castle to the free throw line to put the Clippers up three.
Castle made the first free throw to put the Spurs up two, but missed the second free throw, giving the Clippers one last chance to go the length of the court to tie or win at the buzzer. Well, that's what would've happened had they been able to secure the defensive rebound. Castle came up with the loose ball rebound and scored at the rim to give the Spurs a four-point lead with 1.4 seconds remaining.
The Clippers fell to the Spurs, 116-112, a game in which their key players played heavy minutes — Kawhi Leonard at 37, Brook Lopez at 34, Derrick Jones Jr. at 34 — on the first night of a back-to-back set with travel.
The Clippers came into Friday's game with a perfect 108-0 record when leading by 20 or more points at halftime. According to Clippers radio host Adam Ausland, LA lost it's first game in franchise history while doing that.
Additionally, the Clippers 25-point blown lead is the biggest blown lead in franchise history in the play-by-play era, ESPN's Michael Wright reported.
The 25-point blown lead ties the biggest blown lead of the season with the Rockets, who blew a 25-point lead against the Pelicans on December 18, 2025. Oddly enough, the biggest blown lead of last season was 26 points, when the Clippers came back from down 26 points to beat the San Antonio Spurs .
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In fact, the top two biggest comebacks/blown leads each year since the 2020-21 season all involved either the LA Clippers or San Antonio Spurs.
The Clippers will have a chance to erase the sour taste left from this game less than 24 hours later, when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies at 5PM PST. The Spurs, meanwhile, will take Saturday off before returning to action Sunday night against the Houston Rockets at 5PM PST.
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