LOS ANGELES – Victor Wembanyama stepped it up in the second half on Jan 10, drilling a go-ahead jump shot with 1min 33sec to play and adding the final dagger in the San Antonio Spurs’ 100-95 NBA victory over the Boston Celtics.

The French star, who again came off the bench as the Spurs ease him back into action in the wake of a knee injury, scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, adding six rebounds and three blocked shots.

“My mindset was just, I have to close out the game,” Wembanyama said of his pivotal jumpers, adding that the victory showed the Spurs’ character.

“It felt like they were playing better basketball than us, but we stayed in there,” he said.

De’Aaron Fox also scored 21 points for San Antonio and Keldon Johnson added 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Spurs kicked off a three-game road trip with victory in the clash of East and West second-placed teams.

Derrick White scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Jaylen Brown added 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Boston.

In Detroit, the Los Angeles Clippers erased a double-digit deficit to hand the Eastern Conference leaders Pistons a 98-92 defeat.

Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and John Collins added 25 for the Clippers, who trailed by as many as 19 in the first half and were down 14 early in the fourth quarter.

Collins made a pair of free throws to give the Clippers a 93-92 lead with two minutes remaining and James Harden fed Ivica Zubac for a dunk and the Clippers held on for the win.

They out-scored the Pistons 30-16 in the fourth quarter, Detroit coughing up 12 of their 25 turnovers in the final frame.

Duncan Robinson scored 20 points to lead the Pistons, who were without key contributors Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Tobias Harris as well as ailing Isaiah Stewart.

Elsewhere, Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and passed off eight assists to...