There was a clinic held at Staples Center on Monday night and, unfortunately for the Clippers, they were the students.
The Clippers couldn't close the game, so the Spurs obliged in an 89-85 San Antonio win.
It was a fourth quarter for the Clippers that featured seven turnovers that translated into 13 points for San Antonio.
The Clippers had nine consecutive empty possessions during a 12-0 Spurs run in which LA's five-point lead was turned into a five-point deficit.
The Clippers' flash was outdone by the Spurs' fundamentals.
While the Clippers tried to throw lob passes in traffic only to be turned away, the Spurs were making the extra pass that led to five assists on seven fourth-quarter field goals.
As the Clippers napped, 2013 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs were alert.
Chris Paul held the ball with just under a minute to play and his club down by three when Leonard made his move. The Riverside King alum swatted the ball from Paul's grasp, dove on the floor to cover it and called a 20-second timeout. It was as bold of a play you would see anyone makes against one of the game's premier point guards
It was championship effort from Leonard, who led the way with a career-high 26 points.
"Kawhi Leonard made an unbelievable steal," Paul said. "That was a heads-up play, a big mistake on my part."
It was Leonard's second steal in less than a minute to put the game away for the defending champs.
On the ensuing possession, Leonard assisted on a Manu Ginobili basket to put the Spurs up 87-82.
Of the seven turnovers in the fourth, Paul, Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford each had two.
"It's tough," Paul said. "They basically gave us a clinic down the stretch on how to close out a game. The tough part about it was our turnovers. That was very uncharacteristic of us turning over the ball like we did, and they converted."
The Clippers were outscored 25-15 in the game's final frame and shot just 28.6 percent, and while the Spurs didn't necessarily light it up in the fourth, shooting just 38.9 percent, they held the Clippers without a field goal for the final 5:47.
"They did a lot of good things down the stretch," head coach Doc Rivers said. "That's why they have five rings."
