Spurs Head To LA Up 2-0 In Series

By: John Robbins


The Short of It: Gregg Popovich has often stated that getting a bigl ead early is more of a curse than a blessing. That was certainly the case in Game 2 as the Spurs raced out to a 15 point first quarter lead over the Clippers only to see it almost completely evaporate before halftime. The second half featured another fast start by San Antonio, but this time Los Angeles had no answer as the Spurs put five players (Duncan, Diaw, Green, Parker and Ginobili) in double figures and took a 2-0 series lead with a 105-88 victory over the Clippers in Game 2.

Where The Game Was Won: The second half. The Spurs shot a blistering 62.2% (23/37) from the field, including 50% (6/12) from three point land. 

Players of the Game:

Spurs: Tony Parker - 22 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals

Clippers: Blake Griffin - 20 points, 1 rebounds, 1 steal

Unsung Hero:
Boris Diaw - 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Diaw was a perfect 7/7 from the field and continued to do the dirty work on Blake Griffin (see stat of the game below) limiting his effectiveness. 

Quote of the Game: “Yes we understand it is the playoffs. It is going to be that way. We aren’t surprised by it in any way. We all saw the last series they (the Clippers) were in and how physical that was. We expected much of the same. We have done well with it. We have used our ball movement. We have used our shooting to alleviate a little bit of that and we are going continue to do that.” - Tim Duncan on the physical play in the series

Stat of the Game: 1 - The Spurs only let the Clippers’ Blake Griffin grab one rebound the entire game.

Hidden Stat of the Game: 16 - The Spurs (42/79) got off 16 more shot attempts than the
Clippers (31/63) and made 11 more buckets.

Hidden Stat of the Game Part II: 100% - Boris Diaw was a perfect 7/7 from the field en route to a 16 point night.

What’s Next: Game 3, the front end of a back-to-back, on Saturday at 2:30pm CT in Los Angeles.

POSTGAME NOTES

Tony Parker paced the Spurs with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.  It was his third 20-plus game this postseason and the fourth time he’s lead the team in scoring in the playoffs.
Tim Duncan finished the night with 18 points (9-14 FG), 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Boris Diaw posted 16 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting, including two three-pointers to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists.  Diaw’s 16 points was a playoff-high for him this postseason.

The Spurs defense forced the Clippers into 18 turnovers, an opponent-high this postseason, and limited Los Angeles to 13 assists, an opponent-low.

The Silver and Black outscored the Clippers 50-18 in the paint.  It was the fifth time the Spurs have outscored their opponent in the paint in the playoffs.  San Antonio is averaging 48.7 points per game inside compared to 31.7 for their opponents.

San Antonio shot .532 (42-79) from the field, the second time this postseason the Silver and Black have shot over 50 percent.  It was the sixth straight playoff game San Antonio has out-shot their opponent.

San Antonio posted 105 points, the fifth time this postseason the team has scored 100-or-more points.  The Spurs are averaging 103.7 points per game, the only team in the playoff averaging over 100 points per game.

San Antonio’s defense limited the Clippers to 88 points, the sixth straight game the Spurs have limited a postseason opponent to under 100 points.  For the playoffs, the Silver and Black are limiting opponents to 87.5 points per game.