Los Angeles Clippers vs San Antonio Spurs Recap 12/18
- Updated: December 19, 2015
In a rematch of last year’s opening round of the NBA playoffs the Los Angeles Clippers would take on the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio Friday night. The Spurs would get their revenge and win this one 115 – 107. Lets rewind and look at where the Clippers went wrong in this one and see where they could have improved.
Los Angeles, playing their first of this short two game Texas road trip, started off the game looking good. Shots were falling and the Clippers were taking advantage but in typical Spurs fashion, they made sure Los Angeles never got too comfortable. The first quarter would be back and forth in regards to the lead and the game would follow this same pattern throughout the contest. Blake Griffin in particular came out knocking shots down with 10 to end the first while the team was shooting a great 55% from the floor. The Clippers would lead the Spurs 30-26 heading into the next quarter of play.
Josh Smith and his defensive hustle would be the story of this quarter. Recording two blocks and then consequently turning it over two times immediately after the great defensive effort. This has been a popular trend for the Clipper bench this season as hustle has not been the question, but rather being intelligent and finishing off plays that seem to start with promise. If Los Angeles wants to turn the corner this type of play from guys like Smith, Lance Stephenson, Paul Pierce and Jamal Crawford will have to improve. The Clippers and Spurs would head into the second half gridlocked at 55 as Griffin lead the way in scoring with 13 while Jordan lead the way on the glass snatching up 7 rebounds.
Chris Paul would take over in the third, having 11 points and 5 assists in this quarter alone. Paul was draining from the midrange and hitting the shots that truly make him the “Point-God”. Head coach of San Antonio Greg Popovich, however would attempt to slow down the Clippers offensive run by performing a defensive tactic he championed the “Hack-A-DJ”. As the crowds watching at home listened to Jeff Van Gundy in disgust on ESPN over the idea that this rule still exists that exploits poor free throw shooting, we also got to watch Jordan miss his free throws in typical fashion. This allowed San Antonio to chip away at a Clipper lead that would have been greater, but the quarter ended with Los Angeles leading 88-85.
The Spurs would jump out to a great start in the quarter and with nine minutes to go in the game would be up by 8. It is at this point in time that San Antonio decided to go back to the “Hack-A-DJ” strategy. While this strategy does usually work best when leading, in this case it seemed to halt the Spurs hot start and give the Clippers the momentum to bring the game within 3. However the Clippers could never close the gap on San Antonio and the Spurs would be able to hold on for the win.
Blake Griffin would end the night with 25 points including 2 three pointers, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Meanwhile Chris Paul would have 27 points and 10 assists and DeAndre Jordan would come up a double-double getting 16 points to go with 17 rebounds.
A tough loss for the Clippers but overall the team did not play that bad. A turnover prone night that saw the club turn the ball over 10 times, nine of which came in the first half was not ideal against a team like San Antonio. Los Angeles will head to Houston Saturday to take on the Rockets in another playoff matchup from last season.
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