Turnovers plague Spurs in loss to Clippers
20 turnovers, being outrebounded 46-29, and allowing a team to shoot 55% in a game will usually lead to disaster.
That was Wednesday night for the San Antonio Spurs in Los Angeles. A year ago the Spurs swept the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA Playoffs, but after a summer of adding some new faces to their team, the Clippers got at least one victory, in dominating fashion.
The Clippers blew out the Spurs 106-84 behind a dominant performance from their two frontcourt players DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, who combined for 42 points and 21 rebounds. As the Spurs’ defense had been showing signs of improvement through the first four games of the season, it was the Clippers who were the defensive example on Wednesday as they totaled eight blocks, 13 steals, and forced the Spurs to turn the ball over 20 times, and shoot just 41% in the game.
The Spurs’ run-and-gun offense? The most points it could muster in a quarter Wednesday was 25. The “Big Three” of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili combined to shoot 7-of-23 for 23 combined points. That usually won’t translate into a win.
Here’s the rundown.
First Quarter: Spurs 16, Clippers 22
The Spurs struggled shooting in the opening quarter, as they only knocked down 7-of-18 shots. It wasn’t like the Clippers were an offensive monster either, as they only shot 42% in the quarter. The other factor for the Spurs was turnovers, as they turned the ball over five times in the first. The Clippers got six points out of Griffin and five points from Willie Green (11 points) in the first quarter.
Second quarter: Spurs 41, Clippers 47
Turnovers were a major problem again in the second quarter as the Spurs turned the ball over five more times, which led to the Clippers building a 10-point lead. The Spurs would go on a run toward the end of the quarter to score 25 points along with the Clippers’ 25 quarter points. The Spurs’ shooting continued to struggle at 45%, while the Clippers were up to 51% by half. Danny Green (12 points) was again the spark coming back into the game for the Spurs as he had nine points to lead the Spurs at half, while Griffin and Jordan each had 10 points by halftime.
Third quarter: Spurs 62, Clippers 82
Behind Jordan, the Spurs were just blitzed in the third quarter 35-21. The Spurs committed five more turnovers while the Clippers were shooting 59%, mainly off dunks and layups, while the Spurs still struggled shooting just 43% after three quarters. Jordan went to the bench with 18 points, seven rebounds, two steals, and three blocks. Eric Bledsoe (15 points) was also huge in that quarter as he had 13 points after three quarters.
Fourth quarter: Spurs 84, Clippers 106
The Spurs chopped the Clippers lead down to 11 points early in the fourth quarter, but then Ginobili “tapped” Chris Paul’s arm and a few technical fouls were handed out. From there, the Clippers busted the game open and aside from a no-look Nando De Colo pass late in the game, the game was essentially over.
The Spurs will have Thursday off before preparing to face the Sacramento Kings on Friday, followed by the Portland Trailblazers on Saturday. With the loss, the Spurs are now 4-1 in the early regular season.
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Wow, look at all you guys panicking, just look at one of the flaker games so you can feel better, thats what I do! HAHA!
Did some of y'all even watch the game?! The big man problem isn't a problem. If I recall, dejuan had a block on D and was doing sufficient on that side of the court. Tiago wasn't jumping on every up and under fake like tim and diaw were. You wana talk about a big man problem? Last night it was tim and diaw. They played like crap! Deandre jordan outplayed tim prrtty badly
@aespurs Then the big men are the problem, just the starters. Either way, DeAndre Jordan shot 0% outside of 5 feet from the basket when we played them in the second round. If he scores 20 pts on us, we should just pack it up because he is god-awful.
Anyway, our guards also played terribly throwing weak passes all over the place. It was an ugly night of turnovers.
If we allow DeAndre Jordan to score more than 8 points in a game, we should automatically lose it. Lackadaisical passes really killed us. And once again, Tiago and DeJuan failed to show up. Just as i was beginning to change my tune on them, they disappear.
True to what I said, the clippers frontline guys murdered the Spurs. How much more can TD take? How soon will the Spurs wake up and sign somebody to play after him? If the Spurs play with this lineup all season long. they may as well bide goodbye for the wcf. Nothing short of mirfacle can save them, NOT Blair, NOT Bonner and NOT Splitter. There were talks yesterday for a possible with trade the Bucks Larry Sanders, Drew Gooden, Doron Lamb and a 2nd round pick for Blair, Bonner, Green/Neal. If the Buck's GM is crazy, he will take the trade. How long will coach Pop. GM Buford and Mr. Holt tolerate this situation?
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It's a combination of bad shooting day for the Big Three and DeAndre's "birthday" like game. It's pretty obvious that the Spurs never really bothered to stage a decent comeback had they really wanted to. We still got 78 more games, no need to be too serious this early and to further avoid unwanted injuries.
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We still need a young big guy to back up or play with Duncan. Tiago Splitter isn't doing anything and neither is Dejuan Blair. Seriously, it showed again. We fell to an extremely athletic and young front court. We may do well in the regular season, but if this is going to be the same front court we will have coming into the playoffs, I honestly don't think we'll make it to the finals.
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This game doesn't really concern me. The Clippers shot out of their minds, the refs gave them some calls when the Spurs were making their comeback, and the starters were atrocious. It also gave fans a real chance to finally see guys like de Colo, and gave them some playing time they wouldn't usually get.
