Season 50, Game 29
San Antonio 101, Los Angeles Clippers 106
23-6, 2nd in the West
Remember when the Spurs owned the Clippers? Remember when the Spurs swept the Clippers out of the 2012 Playoffs, and in Game 3 the Clippers had like a 20-point lead in the 2nd quarter, and coming out of halftime, the cameras showed Pop and Duncan on the bench laughing, like they knew there was no way they were losing to this team? And then they came back and won that game (and the next in L.A., for good measure)?
Those were fun times.
Now it feels like the Clippers are the one team the Spurs just can’t crack (outside of the Warriors, who only LeBron can crack, and only after Draymond punches him in the nuts and gets suspended for a game). Their offense has given the Spurs fits for years. The CP-Jordan pick and roll probably causes Pop nightmares, as the Spurs have struggled to guard it for years. Somehow find a way to stop that, and Griffin wreaks havoc on the back side. Or they run the high double screen with DeAndre and Blake, and Paul just goes wherever he wants and makes every midrange jumper because of course. Oh, and Redick basically never misses a 3-point shot against us.
But at least our bench can outplay their laughable bench and keep us in games, right? Wrong. For whatever reason, the Clippers bench plays like (if we’re being perfectly honest here) our bench against us, and our bench morphs into what most people think their bench is.
To wit: in Thursday’s game, the Clippers’ bench combined for 58 points, 25 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Spurs’ bench? 41 points, 25 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Chris Paul went down with a pulled hamstring with about 4 minutes left to play in the 3rd quarter. Here was our chance: the Clippers were down their two best players, and the Spurs had 16 minutes to gut out the win. (One could argue, that once Paul went down, the Spurs should have been favored to win, even with a 9-point deficit.)
But even minus their two best players (really, their only two star players, as DeAndre is mostly made great by the compatibility of his skill set with Paul), the Spurs couldn’t put away the Clippers. Quite the opposite, actually: with just under a minute to play, the Clippers had stretched the lead to 14, meaning the ragtag Clippers were a +5 over 15 minutes against the Spurs. Only by the dint of that crazy 6-point play where Anderson stole the ball twice on an inbounds did the Spurs make the final score respectable.
Perhaps the lone bright spot was the play of Kawhi. He was magnificent in the game, and finally looked comfortable against this team. Remember, he had a disappointing series against them 2 years ago in that seven game classic that was decided by the thinnest of margins. For the Spurs to have any chance against this team, Kawhi needs to dominate his position, as the Clippers seemingly have the edge at every other spot, at least in the starting line-up.
The Spurs have a Clipper problem, and I’m not sure how to solve it. This is why seeding becomes so important in the playoffs, as match-ups can be the difference between a first round exit (*cough**cough*2015 playoffs*cough**cough*) and a trip to the Conference Finals.
The Spurs fell from the 2-seed to the 6-seed on the last day of the 2015 season, setting up that series with the Clippers. Despite Thursday’s hiccup, the Spurs are in control of the 2-seed this year. But the margin between the 3-, 4-, and 5-seed is slim, and the matter of a few bounces of the ball could dictate if the Spurs potentially face the Rockets, Clippers, or the Jazz in the second round.
I know who I’d like to avoid.
The Spurs finish up the road trip against the Blazers in Portland on Friday night.
Go Spurs Go.
