The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 103-100, Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in a matchup between the second and the third best teams in the Western Conference thanks to Gary Neal’s 3-pointers in regulation and in overtime. It was the Spurs’ 10th consecutive victory this season.

The Clippers, who had ball possession, were leading by three points with 9.5 seconds left in the game but point guard Chris Paul lost control on an in-bounds pass and the ball ended up in the hands of sharpshooter Neal at the top of the 3-point stripe. He turned and sank the tying basket with 5.7 seconds remaining. With two-tenths of a second left, Paul missed a 14-footer to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Paul hit two free throws to give the Clippers their last lead at 97-95. Matt Bonner countered with a 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a one-point lead before Blake Griffin got fouled. He missed the first and made the second to tie it at 98 with 42 seconds left. Neal then hit the go-ahead 3-pointer and Tony Parker made two free throws for a 103-98 lead. Griffin countered with a dunk with 10 seconds to go to get within 3 points. However, Neal missed two free throws, but Paul, fortunately for the Spurs, missed a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left.

Paul took the blame for losing the ball near half-court with 6.9 seconds left in regulation. Without any timeouts, the Clippers had to get the ball in play. Said he, “Man, that was probably the worst play I’ve been a part of since I’ve been in the NBA. We were taking the ball out and we knew they had to foul. I was running to the backcourt when the ball came, and I didn’t want to get a backcourt violation. So the dummy I am, I threw the ball and it went right to Gary Neal and he hit the 3. We obviously gave that game away right there—up three with the ball with some seconds left. We’ve got to win games like that.”

He added, “It’s probably the worst loss we’ve had this year, considering that a win would have put us in second in the West, and how the game was pretty much over. It hurts to know that me, of all people, put us in that situation.”

It was a costly win for the Spurs though as they lost guard Manu Ginobili and big man Tiago Splitter to injuries during the game. Ginobili left at the end of the third quarter with a strained left oblique while Splitter left the game with a right calf sprain in the first quarter.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich in his post-game interview said, “It sort of looks like we won the battle, but it makes it tough to win the war. But it was a great game. A lot of guys played their hearts out. And we’ve been on the road a while, so I couldn’t be more proud of what they did just hanging in. It started out real poorly, but they kept their heads about themselves, trusted each other and we were fortunate enough to get it done.”

On Monday, the Spurs will go against Utah while the Clippers will play against Golden State.