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As painful as the Los Angeles Lakers embarrassing blowout 119-90 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder was Monday night for Lakers fans like me, it has actually been worse before.
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One night after the Oklahoma City Thunder convinced a lot of people that they were the team to beat in the Western Conference by walloping the Los Angeles Lakers , the San Antonio Spurs offered their retort: A measured, professional destruction of the Los Angeles Clippers.
In the 108-92 Game 1 win, the Spurs made perhaps the best point guard in the world look ordinary. They choked off Chris Paul’s patented pick-and-roll game, eliminating his outlet options and forcing him to take contested shots, harassing him into a 3-for-13 showing, five turnovers and his lowest point total since Feb. 4 . Without its primary weapon, Vinny Del Negro’s team became a half-dimensional one-on-one team, and the results — 92 points, a 7-of-17 shooting performance by Blake Griffin, barely any offensive spark to speak of (save for the excellent bench play of Eric Bledsoe) — spoke for themselves.
On the other end, San Antonio calmly got just about whatever it wanted, wherever it wanted. Of the Spurs’ 80 field-goal attempts in Game 1, 65 came either in the paint or from 3-point range, according to NBA.com’s shot location statistics , and they made 32 of them (52.3 percent), including a shattering 13-of-25 mark from beyond the arc. That pushes their postseason success rate on long balls to 43.4 percent; the next most accurate team from distance, the Thunder, has hit 38.6 percent . To do all that on a night where point guard Tony Parker — who carved up the Utah Jazz in the opening round (21 points on 50 percent shooting and 6.5 assists in 32.8 minutes per game in the sweep) — missed 8 of 9 shots, scored just seven points and turned it over nine times in 38 minutes? That’s pretty impressive.
Also impressive: The win was San Antonio’s 15th straight. (As BDL editor emeritus/TBJ co-host J.E. Skeets noted Tuesday night , it’s also the Spurs’ 28th in their last 30 games and 43rd in their last 50.) They haven’t lost since a 14-point defeat at the hands of the Lakers on April 11 — that was 35 days ago .
But it’s not only that they’ve been winning; it’s the way they’ve been winning. Just how good has Gregg Popovich’s team been during its rampaging run? Let’s take a look inside the numbers.
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Tim Duncan finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds as San Antonio cruised past the Los Angeles Clippers 108-92 in game one of the Western Conference semi-finals on Tuesday, extending the Spurs’ win streak to 15 games.
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The San Antonio Spurs picked up right where they left in sweeping Utah by picking apart the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night.
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The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers have spent the last week very differently. After easily sweeping the Utah Jazz in four straight games, the Spurs got some rest while they rejuvenated their minds and bodies and waited to find out who they would play in the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. San Antonio now knows that its Western Conference semifinals opponent will be the Los Angeles Clippers.
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A year ago the San Antonio Spurs were written off; too old and too far past their prime to contend for another league title.
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The NBA has released the Los Angeles Clippers vs. San Antonio Spurs playoff schedule. San Antonio is the top seeded team remaining in the 2012 NBA Playoffs, so the Spurs will retain home court advantage until they get eliminated. Games 1 and 2 will take place in San Antonio before the teams travel to Staples Center for Games 3 and 4.
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LeBron James wins 2012 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award
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For every postseason matchup, Ball Don’t Lie’s resident dummy will offer a topically appropriate entry from the best-selling series of “Deep Thoughts” books written by legendary humorist Jack Handey, plus some of his own original thoughts on the playoff series. … Continue reading →