SAN ANTONIO -- Everyone, especially Indiana's Paul George, knew that the ball was coming to San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard for a potential game-winning shot in the waning seconds Wednesday night, but knowing it's coming and being able to do something about that shot is two different things.

Leonard hit a heavily contested, game-winning turnaround jumper with 2.4 seconds to play for the last of his 31 points as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Indiana Pacers 100-99 at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs led 98-97 before Danny Green missed a layup with 1:46 to play and Myles Turner took advantage on the other end with a jumper 11 seconds later to give Indiana a 99-98 advantage. After a pair of empty possessions by both teams, Monta Ellis missed two free throws for the Pacers with nine seconds to play, giving San Antonio a final shot at the victory.

Leonard hit the game winner despite great defense from George.

"Coach drew up a good play and LaMarcus (Aldridge) set a good screen for me," Leonard said about his final shot. "We had about nine seconds. I wanted to take my time and try to get off a good shot and it ended up going in for me."

The two players squared off all game and thrice Leonard worked one-on-one to back down George in the paint in the fourth quarter, so George knew what was coming.

"There's no A-B-C-D to Kawhi's game -- he's going to go A to B with no shortcuts," George said. "I knew he was going to try to work his way in. Kawhi is really good at getting to a spot -- he made some tough shots and the last one was a tough one."

George had a good look at a 3-pointer at the buzzer but it bounced off the rim.

The win was the fifth straight for the Spurs (46-13), who were playing their first game at home in nearly a month after their annual eight-game Rodeo Road Trip.

Leonard also grabbed 10 rebounds for San Antonio while David Lee scored a season-high 18 points and Pau Gasol, in only his third game back in the lineup after missing 15 games with a broken finger on his left hand, also added 18.

"I don't know why it is but the first game back from a long road trip is always a grind," Lee said. "Guys aren't always at their best but we played really, really hard tonight so it wasn't a lack of effort. This was the kind of game we just needed to find a way to win."

George led the Pacers (31-30) with 22 points. C.J. Miles added 19 points for Indiana while Turner and Rodney Stuckey scored 16 and 11 points, respectively.

The Spurs played from behind for most of the first quarter until a 12-4 run over the final two and a half minutes garnered them a 29-28 advantage after 12 minutes of play. Gasol, coming off the bench for the third straight game, had seven points in the surge while Manu Ginobili capped the run with a three-point play with 2.7 seconds to play.

Indiana retook the lead 45-43 on a George 3-pointer at the 3:25 mark of the second quarter and expanded it to 49-43 on a Kevin Seraphin layup with 1:30 to play in the period before settling for a 49-47 advantage at the half.

George led the Pacers with 14 points at intermission while Gasol and Leonard hit for 11 apiece to pace San Antonio. Indiana outshot the Spurs 46.5 percent to 39.5 percent in the first half, outrebounded San Antonio 22-18 and had 12 assists to the Spurs' six.

Both teams were ragged throughout the third quarter but San Antonio struggled more than Indiana due mostly to key turnovers. Indiana led 76-73 at the end of the period as Leonard kept the Spurs close with 11 points in the quarter.

"We played hard -- there's no doubt about that," Indiana coach Nate McMillan said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win. At times we just went a little too fast and didn't have that solid execution when we needed to. You've got to make plays down the stretch and get stops and knock down shots. That didn't happen."

NOTES: Spurs G Tony Parker was held out of the game with a quad contusion. It was the 13th game Parker has missed this season. ... The Spurs and Indiana first met Oct. 13, 1973 in Indianapolis when both teams played in the ABA. The Pacers won that game 116-99. ... Indiana lost 14 of its last 15 regular-season road games at San Antonio dating back to the 2002-03 season. ... Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was named the NBA's Western Conference Coach of the Month for games played in February after guiding San Antonio to an 8-2 record in the month, best in the Western Conference. ... The Pacers are 26-4 this season when leading after three quarters, but 3-26 while trailing entering the fourth. ... Next up for San Antonio is Friday's game in New Orleans versus the new-look Pelicans while the Pacers travel to Atlanta for the fourth game of their ongoing five-game road trip.