No Manning, but Clippers Win : Pro basketball: Jackson picks up the slack against Spurs with 21 points. Manning could be out for a while.

The Clippers, who could be without Danny Manning after this season, demonstrated that they aren’t dependent on their All-Star forward.

With their leading scorer sidelined because of a cracked left ring finger, the Clippers overcame a 12-point third-quarter deficit and defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 92-90, Saturday before 12,416 at the Sports Arena.

“Danny Manning’s a great player and he’s our guy, but if he’s not here there’s no excuses,” said guard Mark Jackson, who had a team-high 21 points and 14 assists. “This is challenge time for everybody else around here: ‘Hey, what can you do now that Danny’s not here?’ ”

And the Clippers met the challenge.

With the score 90-90, Jackson fed center Stanley Roberts for the game-winning dunk with 17.3 seconds remaining as the Clippers won their second consecutive game.

“The last play was designed for Mark, but he found me,” said Roberts, who had eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. “You never know what Mark’s going to do, so you’ve got to just wait for him.”

The Spurs shot only 26.7% in the fourth quarter and played the last 5:10 without center David Robinson, who fouled out. They still had a chance to win it, but guard Negele Knight missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Manning, who averaged 25.5 points in four games this season, may be sidelined for longer than anticipated.

Although the Clippers originally announced that Manning would be day to day after sitting out Saturday’s game, Ron Grinker, Manning’s agent, said Manning has been advised not to play for two weeks by a hand specialist. He’ll be re-examined Monday.

“I’m upset,” Manning said. “I wish I could be playing, but you don’t want to have an injury to nag and be with you all year long. Hopefully, I can sit out and come back and everything will be healthy.

“This is an injury that could be with me all year if I don’t take care of it right away, and that’s what we’re trying to do right now. I’m just glad it happened early.”

Jackson said he had to create more offense to make up for Manning’s absence.

“Danny’s made it easy on a lot of guys,” Jackson said. “But I think I’m going to have to create an offense, whether it’s for myself or other guys.”

And that’s what he did, making eight of 12 shots, including a three-pointer, and getting four steals.

Trailing, 74-62, in the third quarter, the Clippers went on a 22-8 run to take an 84-82 lead when Roberts sank two free throws with 5:10 remaining.

After Antoine Carr made a pair of free throws to tie it, the Clippers scored four consecutive points as Mark Aguirre, who had 18 points off the bench, made a turnaround jumper and Ron Harper made two free throws after he was fouled by Dennis Rodman.

After Willie Anderson answered with a three-point shot to cut it to 88-87, Jackson gave the Clippers a 90-87 lead when he made a layup with 42.1 seconds remaining. Anderson made a three-point jumper from the left corner to tie it at 90-90 with 34.1 seconds remaining.

The Clippers called time to set up a play. Aguirre inbounded the ball to Jackson, who drove the left side of the key and fed Roberts for a dunk.

“I just wanted to take it right at them,” Roberts said.

Forward Loy Vaught made six of 11 shots and scored 14 points, 12 in the first half. Vaught also did a good job of playing defense on Robinson, who scored 18 points, but missed 12 of 20 shots before fouling out.

Harper missed nine of 14 shots, but he had a team-high eight rebounds.

The Clippers also did a good job of keeping Rodman, the two-time defending NBA rebound champion, from controlling the boards in the fourth quarter.

Rodman had 13 rebounds and six points, but he got only three rebounds in the fourth quarter as the Clippers outrebounded the Spurs, 10-8, in the final 12 minutes.

Clipper Notes

After team physician Tony Daly found a small crack in Danny Manning’s left ring finger, Manning was examined by Stephen J. Lombardo, his personal orthopedic surgeon, and Norman Zemel, a hand specialist, who found an additional crack. “As it appears now, Danny will miss anywhere from one to six weeks,” said Ron Grinker, Manning’s agent. “There’s no way of telling anything until next Friday or Saturday when he’s re-examined. The Clippers can announce what they like, Steve Lombardo is taking care of Danny. Any statements made to the contrary have not been made through the physician treating Danny. Dr. Lombardo said that Danny will not be on a basketball court or handling a basketball for two weeks at the earliest.” The Clippers announced during the game that Daly will perform additional tests on Manning’s finger on Monday.