After a mediocre first half and an awful third quarter, the Spurs put the Mavs away down the stretch with some excellent clutch play.

The Spurs were staring down the barrel of their second straight loss to a struggling team. Down eight to the Mavericks with seven minutes left in the fourth, the Spurs put on a 25-10 run to pull ahead and keep their spotless road record intact.

FOR one last time, the Ateneo Blue Eagles and defending champions Far Eastern University Tamaraws go at it to settle who get to advance to the finals of Season 79 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines in a rubber match set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Forged after FEU came from behind last time around to win, 62-61, and negate Ateneo’s twice-to-beat edge in the Final Four, the 4 p.m. set-to between the number two and three seeds determine who the already-qualified De La Salle Green Archers will face in the best-of-three finals beginning on Saturday.

The Tamaraws rode on the yeoman’s effort of veteran Raymar Jose in the last game to extend their title reign and possibly go back to the finals to defend it.

The Lakers found a way to get it done in Chicago.

It wasn’t pretty but the Los Angeles Lakers dug in and gutted out a 96-90 victory over the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers were incredibly sloppy to start the game and fell into an early deficit, but leaned on their defense from the second quarter on to turn around what looked like a sure loss.

Less than two minutes into the first game of the Lakers’ latest trip, they lost energetic shooting guard Nick Young to a strained right Achilles’ tendon.

On whether that explained their lackluster first half or not, there was some dissent, but it undoubtedly complicated matters.

The Lakers gave up 65 points in the first half, and lost to the New Orleans Pelicans, 105-88, at Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night. The loss, during which New Orleans led from start to finish, dropped the Lakers to 9-10 while the Pelicans improved to 7-12, having won five of their last seven games.

 The Clippers controlled the first three frames, but a huge performance from Sean Kilpatrick in the fourth quarter and overtimes helped the Clippers to a third consecutive loss.

Led by a career-high 37 points from Sean Kilpatrick, the Brooklyn Nets upset the Los Angeles Clippers 127-122 in double overtime Tuesday night. The Clippers were in command for the first three quarters before a barrage of triples catapulted Brooklyn back into it. The Nets drilled all six of their threes in the final frame, with Kilpatrick netting 20 points in the final 12 minutes alone.

In the opening seconds of Stephen Curry’s NBA career he got an assist on the first possession, a steal on the second and then tried a 3-pointer for the first time at the professional level.

It missed.

WINNERS in their PBA Philippine Cup debuts, the Rain or Shine Elastopainters and San Miguel Beermen try to build on their good start and go for their second win against separate opponents in league action today at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

The Elastopainters tussle with the Mahindra Floodbuster in the curtain-raiser at 4:15 p.m. while the Beermen engage the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters in the night cap at 7 p.m.

Rain or Shine, coached anew by Caloy Garcia, began their campaign in the season-opening Philippine Basketball Association tournament on the right foot, fashioning out a 101-87 win over TNT KaTropa on opening week.

Now that the dust has more or less fully settled on NBA free agency — well, we think it has more or less fully settled — it’s time to take stock of what teams will enter the 2019-20 season competing for the championship.