San Antonio Spurs continue to roll - Down Los Angeles Clippers to take a 2-0 series lead: NBA Playoffs
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night to go up 2-0 in their Western Conference Semi Final series. The Spurs, after routing the Clippers in game 1, continued with their persistent
offensive onslaught to win 105-88, making it their 16th consecutive victory, dating back to the regular season.
The Clippers seemed to have no answer for the Spurs near perfect ball movement. Tony Parker celebrated his 30th birthday with an MVP performance on the night, scoring 22 points and dishing
8 assists with three steals.
The matchup between two All Star point guards in Parker and Chris Paul, which didn’t take place in game 1 as both had slow nights, was a one sided story in game 2 as Paul struggled for the second straight game.
CP3 had 10 points and 5 assists for the night, going 4 of 9 from the field. The most worrying part for the Clips was that their ace player had a game-high 8 turnovers, only three short of the total committed by the Spurs.
The Spurs started strongly and with the scores at 9-10, they embarked on a 14-0 run, capped by back to back three’s from Manu Ginobili, to take a 23-10 lead.
The Spurs played to their traditional strategy of ball distribution with jump shooters lining up the perimeter. The Clippers defense was easily broken down by the penetration of Parker. The however scored the
last 6 points of the quarter to cut back the lead, trailing 29-21 at the end of the period.
Four free throws in a row had the Clippers within two in the early parts of the 2nd period, and they remained close after that for the remaining quarter. Although the Spurs did not relinquish
the lead at any given time in the second, the Clippers only trailed 42-46 at halftime and the Spurs were not happy as they left for the locker rooms.
Leading by 52-47 early in the third period, Danny Granger sank consecutive 3’s to start a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 62-47. They closed the third period leading by 78-67, and continued their charge in the
4th to extend the lead to 92-76 with 7:16 left in the game.
With 2:30 remaining in the game and the Spurs still leading 100-83, Coach Gregg Popovich took out Duncan and Leonard from the game. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul also did not play the last few minutes of the game
as the Clippers had accepted defeat by then.
Tim Duncan was at his usual best with 18 points and 5 rebounds. He was 9 of 14 from the field. Boris Diaw had 16 points off a perfect 7 of 7 shooting including two triples. Ginobili had 10 points and 5 assists
coming off the bench while Green also added 13 points in a group hunt by the Spurs.
Chris Paul was struggling again and did not seem like he was a 100% fit. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said before the game that Paul was still hurting from an aching hip and groin, although Paul insisted he
was fine. Blake Griffin finished the night with 20 points but only had 1 rebound in the entire game. Randy Foye had 11 points while Nick Young and Mo Williams both added 9.
The Spurs outnumbered the Clippers 23-13 in assists and shot 53.2% from the field including 40% from beyond the arc. The Clippers also shot well from the field, going 49.2% for the night and scoring on 9 of 13
three point attempts. However, they took 63 shots and the Spurs took 79. The Clippers had 18 turnovers compared to only 11 for the Spurs and were also outmatched 12-7 in steals by the Spurs.
It was another impressive display of perimeter shooting and ball movement by the Spurs, with some nice penetration moves by Parker who was on fire. Paul struggled for the Clippers and Griffin remained ineffective,
refusing to change his game and go one notch higher against the mighty Spurs.
Game 3 will now move to the Staples Center but the series is giving the feel of a sweep for the Clippers.
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