SAN ANTONIO -- When the Los Angeles Clippers are playing the way they did Saturday in their 98-87 victory over San Antonio, it's easy to think they've likely underachieved in the regular season.

If Los Angeles continues to improve and play defense the way it did against the Spurs, it's just as easy to believe its best days are likely ahead, no matter what team is standing in its path.

Chris Paul hit for 19 points and led six Clippers players in double-figure scoring Saturday against a nearly full strength and hungry San Antonio squad at the AT&T Center and stayed in the hunt for a better position in the postseason.

"I like how we're playing -- I like how we are growing," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "I like this game in particular because I thought both teams wanted to win the game. I know that sounds like a silly statement, but down the stretch of the season you get some quirky games. Tonight it was good competition and that was good for our team."

Los Angeles (49-31) is tied with Utah for home-court advantage in their first-round playoff series. If the teams are tied at the end of the regular season, Los Angeles owns the tiebreaker.

The Clippers' final two games are at home versus Houston on Monday and Sacramento on Wednesday.

It was the final home game of the regular season for the Spurs (61-19), who already clinched the second seed in the Western Conference in the playoffs as well as the second-best record in the league.

San Antonio finishes with contests on the road against Portland on Monday and Utah on Wednesday that could both have an impact on the playoff picture.

"Our execution at both ends, defensively and offensively, was really poor," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "So I'm very disappointed in that and I'm looking forward to the next two games.

"Nobody's going to rest. Everybody's going to play. We already rested everybody, and we have days in between now -- it's like the playoffs, kind of. There's no back-to-backs. There's no bad travel or anything like that, so it's time for rhythm and that sort of thing. Hopefully, we'll play better next week."

Blake Griffin added 18 points for Los Angeles, which has won five straight games and took the season series with the Spurs 3-1.

DeAndre Jordan recorded 17 points and 17 rebounds, Jamal Crawford scored 12 points off the bench and J.J. Redick and Luc Mbah a Moute tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Clippers.

"We got some stops and we got out in transition," Paul said. "That's when we are at our best. Our bigs are so athletic -- I can't think of any team in the league that has more athletic bigs than us. So when we play at that pace, that tempo, we're tough."

Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with 28 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 18. Pau Gasol contributed 15 points off the bench and Dewayne Dedmon grabbed 10 rebounds for San Antonio.

Aldridge had 10 points to lead the Spurs in a crisply played, relatively clean and even first quarter that saw San Antonio forge a 23-22 lead. Each team had one turnover in the period and only six total fouls were committed.

The Clippers trailed 40-39 after an Aldridge left-handed hook at the 4:29 mark of the second quarter but then caught fire, outscoring San Antonio 13-3 to lead 52-43 at halftime. Paul had six points in the surge.

Aldridge led all scorers with 14 points at intermission while Paul and Jordan each hit for 13 points in the first half for Los Angeles. Jordan also had 10 rebounds in the half as the Clippers didn't commit a turnover in the second quarter (and had one in the first 24 minutes). San Antonio was also careful with the ball, with only two turnovers at halftime.

San Antonio cut the Clippers' lead to 68-66 on a Manu Ginobili 3-pointer at the 4:01 mark of the third quarter but Los Angeles again responded, running off 14 of the game's ensuing 18 points to establish an 82-70 advantage heading to the final quarter. Leonard scored 15 of the Spurs' 27 points in the period but it wasn't enough to counter Los Angeles' overall balance.

"We could have got into the ball handlers a little better tonight," Leonard said. "Defensively, we let the guys dribble the ball comfortably. These last two games are the types we want to play -- we don't want to walkover teams. We want teams to give their full effort and we need to as well. These are going to be two great games for us."

NOTES: The Spurs were without Gs Danny Green (left quad contusion) and Dejounte Murray (left groin) while G Austin Rivers (strained left hamstring) and C Diamond Stone (left knee soreness) did not dress for Los Angeles. ... G Tony Parker became the youngest player to appear in a game for San Antonio when he suited up Oct. 30, 2001 versus the Clippers. The 19-year-old Frenchman had nine points and three assists in his NBA debut. ... Clippers C DeAndre Jordan scored a career-high 26 points against San Antonio on Feb. 29, 2015 at Staples Center. ... The Spurs scored 163 points vs. the (then San Diego) Clippers in a 163-125 win on Nov. 8, 1978, the most points ever scored by San Antonio in regulation in an NBA game.