'Nobody Gives Up' | How the Spurs Erased a 25-Point Deficit to Beat the Clippers

Sitting at the podium with zero energy left, Victor Wembanyama called the Spurs' 25-point comeback against the Clippers one of the best and toughest games in his career.

"It was definitely the best 30 hours of basketball of my life," he said, completely drained and genuinely satisfied.

The Spurs looked dead in the water just an hour earlier, down 25 in the third quarter to a good Clippers team the night after a dominant, physical win over the Pistons. Their legs looked shot, none more so than Victor Wembanyama.

After scoring 38 points in 39 minutes the previous evening, Wembanyama played just 10 minutes in the first half. He still led all Spurs with 14 points in the half, which speaks to both his effectiveness and the overall anemic nature of San Antonio's early offense outside of the big man.

The Spurs shot just 38% from the floor and 30% from 3 at the break, turning it over eight times and struggling in most every facet of the game. It all looked slow, sloppy, and tired.

As is always the case when he returns to San Antonio, former Spur Kawhi Leonard got a hearty helping of boos when he was introduced and whenever he touched the ball. As the Clippers extended their lead, the volume decreased proportionally. He put his gigantic fingerprints all over the game, as he and Stephon Castle guarded each other for much of the contest. Castle shot just 2-8 from the floor, but he did add 8 assists and 8 rebounds.

Mitch Johnson's teammate at Stanford, Brook Lopez, looked unstoppable as he notched 17 points in the first half and finished with 26.

In the second half, De'Aaron Fox did his best to turn the tide by attacking the hoop. He floated one over Kawhi, made another defender touch earth, then drilled a corner 3 that got the crowd back into it.

SHEESH SWIPA 😬

📺 @FanDuelSN_SW, @espn pic.twitter.com/ULHuQk1Y5U
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 7, 2026

Julian Champagnie hit big triples on consecutive possessions to cut it to 12, but the Clippers punched right back. Champagnie got to the stripe for three free throws, then hit another 3, then another.

Julian Champagnie almost didn’t play tonight

A lot cooler that he did!
pic.twitter.com/3yuaQbAYUs
— Silver & Black Coffee Hour (@SlvrBlkCoffeeHr) March 7, 2026

"I always say this, and we always say it, and I don't want the fans or anybody to think that we say this because we have to, because we don't, but I genuinely think that we have the best fans in the NBA," said Champagnie, who was so dinged up he almost ended his iron man streak. "We get on runs and we get buckets, even when we're down 20, we score. We got to stop. But there was a time in the third quarter when, you know, we got a couple buckets, they got a couple buckets, and I think we got to lead to, like, 19, and they were screaming."

The defense picked up, as did the crowd's volume. Keldon Johnson drilled a triple from straight away to end the third, making it 92-81 Clippers heading to the fourth. He hit another triple from the corner early in the fourth, Fox slashed his way to the rim, and the Spurs cut it to single digits.

Carter Bryant ripped a steal, Luke Kornet laid one in, and Bryant blocked the next attempt from Los Angeles as the crowd went ballistic. Wembanyama checked back in with just over 9 minutes to go. Fox got to the cup again, the Frost Bank Center reached a dangerous decibel level, and the Clippers called timeout with their lead chipped down all the way to just five points.

With Castle guarding Leonard, Wembanyama doubled and forced a terrible shot. Fox hit a mid-range jumper. Wemby stuffed an attempt at the rim, and in transition Carter Bryant soared for an alley-oop jam. The next trip down, Devin Vassell knocked down a triple to put the purs in front and blow the roof off.

WEMBY STUFFS IT

CASTLE SENDS IT

CARTER STAMPS IT

RAAAAAAAAAAHHHH
pic.twitter.com/pbPzz8KBBP
— Silver & Black Coffee Hour (@SlvrBlkCoffeeHr) March 7, 2026

Carter Bryant rotated over to block his childhood idol Kawhi Leonard, and though he got called for a goaltend it's telling that even the mistake was an energetic one. Wemby rolled for a layup, and he and Bryant linked up to force a Kawhi miss.

"Today, he came in the game and he had no care in the world about shooting basketball, getting any buckets," Champagnie said of the rookie. "He came in there and said, 'I'm gonna play defense and I'm gonna stop guys.' And that's what he did every play, picking up full court, he guards the best players. He's a defensive menace. I give him a lot of credit tonight. I don't think we win this game without him."

"Carter, 20 minutes, he had the loudest 5 points and 3 rebounds I've seen."

Leonard responded with a mid-range jumper and his signature steal and slam. Wemby caught a quick breather, and Bryant played some small-ball 5. He forced a terrible miss from Lopez, and drilled a 3 to break the tie. Leonard drove on Bryant and doubled him over with his off arm, but he missed the open jumper. On the other end, Fox cashed in his opportunity. Fox drew a foul, giving the Spurs a chance to get Wembanyama back in the game with under two minutes left.

Leonard got to the line on a pretty soft foul, and sunk them both to put the Clippers in front by one. Wemby got loose for his fourth triple of the game, but LA got back in front with free throws.

Wembanyama guarded the heck out of Kawhi in space, lunged at his 3 from the top of the arc, forced a miss, and wound up in perfect position to dunk it for the one-point lead with 16 seconds left. Pushed to his absolute limit, he had to guard one of the world's best scorers in space. He found whatever gas was in the tank and emptied it.

ALL-STAR CONNECTION IN THE CLUTCH 🤩

📺 @FanDuelSN_SW, @espn pic.twitter.com/PAMi6FRUGw
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 7, 2026

"For me that's an internal fight I have to have. My body actually sends me signals throughout the whole game. The body basically tells you, yeah, stop or chill or rest this possession, you know, but it's an internal fight," Wembanyama said. "I don't know if like this for everybody, but to never take a possession off. That's the hard thing over 82 games... today everybody was on point for this."

Miraculously and inexplicably, veteran Nic Batum committed a truly awful turnover on the inbound. Champagnie went to the line and missed both free throws, but got the board. Castle made the first, missed the second, and put the miss back in.

"Probably the best reflection or symbolism of the game," Mitch Johnson said. "We weren't at our best. You probably would have not ever booked that or stamped out for your perfect execution in that moment. And sometimes you just need the wherewithal and the fight and that thing in there to finish the job."

Finale sequence from tonight’s big win for the Spurs! What a comeback!! pic.twitter.com/JGLgEHWE4N
— Silver & Black Coffee Hour (@SlvrBlkCoffeeHr) March 7, 2026

This comeback is the second biggest for the Spurs in the play-by-play era. Doing it against a good team the night after a hard battle makes this one of the best games of the season for San Antonio, and one of the best moments of Wembanyama's career.

"The best thing that I see is that nobody gives up on anything or anybody," Wembanyama said. "Everybody gets everybody's back. That's why I have blind trust in these guys. I love them so much."

"I'd be careful to use the word pride, because I wouldn't want to have that come across as me taking credit, but I think it's a lot of joy to be part of and participate with the guys in the competitive response and character they showed tonight," Johnson said.