San Antonio took advantage of Los Angeles being without injured All-Star Chris Paul and comfortably beat the Clippers 116-92 in Saturday's clash of NBA divisional leaders.
The win moved the Spurs into equal second in the Western Conference standings, behind new leader Oklahoma City, which got a super performance from Kevin Durant in its comeback win over Minnesota and moved above Portland, which was narrowly beaten at home by Philadelphia.
San Antonio's Tiago Splitter had 22 points before leaving with a shoulder injury and Tim Duncan added 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Jamal Crawford scored 24 points for the Clippers who missed Paul after he suffered a shoulder injury on Friday against Dallas.
Oklahoma City's Durant scored 23 of his season-high 48 points in the fourth quarter and hit the winner with 4 seconds to play, rallying the Thunder from 13 points down in a 115-111 victory over Minnesota.
Kevin Love played the entire second half and finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Wolves. But he missed four free throws in the final 27 seconds to let it slip away. The last three came when he was fouled on a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds to go and the Wolves down by two.
Indiana, the overall league leader, improved to 26-6 by beating New Orleans 99-82, overcoming a seven-point halftime deficit.
Philadelphia made it four straight wins - all on the road - by beating Portland 101-99, led by 30 points from Thaddeus Young.
Miami's Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh each had 20 points, helping the Heat rally for a 110-94 win over state rival Orlando.
Chicago's Mike Dunleavy scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, steering the Bulls to a 91-84 victory against Atlanta.
Phoenix's Gerald Green had 24 points and a career-high five steals starting in place of the injured Eric Bledsoe, pushing the Suns to a 116-100 win over Milwaukee.
Charlotte arrested a season-worst five-game losing skid by defeating Sacramento 113-103, with Kemba Walker scoring 30 points.
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