Wembanyama shines and Spurs storm back, but lose in Cleveland 117-115

Wembanyama had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots in 25 minutes for San Antonio. San Antonio closed on a 20-6 run, but made a crucial mistake late.

CLEVELAND — Jarrett Allen had 29 points and 16 rebounds for his seventh straight double-double, Caris LeVert scored 23 points off the bench and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs 117-115 on Sunday.

Top overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots in 25 minutes for San Antonio. The 7-foot-3 Frenchman leads the NBA in blocks and ranks first among rookies in scoring, rebounding and steals.

Allen is averaging 21.0 points and 15.7 rebounds over the last seven games for Cleveland, which has won three in a row. The Cavaliers were scheduled to depart for France later in the day in preparation for their Jan. 11 contest in Paris against Brooklyn.

Wembanyama and Allen exchanged highlight-reel blocks of each other in a wild fourth quarter that saw Cleveland build a 111-95 lead, only to have San Antonio answer with a 20-6 run to pull within two in the final minute.

The Spurs had a pair of opportunities to go ahead, but Jeremy Sochan threw the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds left and his 31-footer was off target at the buzzer. San Antonio has the second-worst record in the NBA at 5-30 and is 0-11 against the East.

Sam Merrill scored 18 points and Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and nine assists for the Cavaliers. Cleveland is 8-3 since learning it will be without point guard Darius Garland (broken jaw) and power forward Evan Mobley (left knee surgery) until February.

Devin Vassell had 22 points and Tre Jones and Keldon Johnson each added 18 for the Spurs. Longtime Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman had nine points and six rebounds in his return to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Vassell scored 12 points in the first quarter as the Spurs went up 14, but Merrill caught fire with five 3-pointers to send Cleveland into halftime with a 62-56 lead.