On the second night of a back-to-back, the Warriors spent too long running on empty to close out the Spurs.

After leading by 17 late in the third quarter, Golden State fell apart. The Warriors didn’t convert a field goal for more than six minutes of the fourth quarter. They got outscored by 25 in the last 12 minutes and 30 seconds, scoring a total of 13 fourth-quarter points.

The younger Spurs had fresher legs, and it showed in their 104-94 win over the Warriors (12-4). The Warriors needed their younger players to pick up the slack for their veterans, but Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, and Moses Moody didn’t do quite enough to make up for Steph Curry (14 points on 5-for-16 shooting) and Draymond Green’s quiet nights.

Perhaps Jonathan Kuminga could have provided enough individual offense to keep the Warriors afloat late, but he got scratched due to an illness.

Victor Wembanyama scored a game-high 25 points and added nine assists, seven rebounds and three blocks. Rookie Stephon Castle added 19, including several big plays late.

The last time the Warriors blew a lead of at least 17 and lost was last January against the Nuggets.

To build their lead, the Warriors went on both an 11-0 and 7-0 run in a convincing first quarter fueled by Andrew Wiggins (20 points) and Buddy Hield. Wiggins dropped 10 in the opening period and Hield added eight, passing Joe Johnson for 19th on the all-time 3-point leaderboard with a pair of early triples.

With Curry and Draymond Green on the bench to start the final period, Golden State needed its bench to build up another cushion. Instead, San Antonio went on a 10-4 run, cutting the deficit to four.