BillMc
04-21-2015, 02:40 AM
Nice article by Mathew Tynan of 48 Minutes of Hell.
http://www.48minutesofhell.com/game-1-spurs-play-right-into-clippers-hands
Game 1: Spurs Play Right Into Clippers' Hands
There are three things you simply cannot do when playing the Clippers: Shoot 3s poorly, turn the ball over too much, and fail to sufficiently execute transition defense. San Antonio landed that trifecta of terribleness late Sunday night, and Los Angeles completed a 107-92 Game 1 mauling that’s set an unexpected tone in the Spurs’ run at defending their title.
Let’s go down the list, shall we? San Antonio hit just 10 of its 33 3-point attempts. That’s only the fifth time in franchise history they’ve missed at least 23 shots from deep in a single game, per Basketball-Reference. The only other times: in a 95-82 win over the Grizzlies on opening night after the 2011 lockout, and in an ugly 100-83 loss to the Knicks in January of 2013. Meanwhile, the Clippers hit 10 of their 18 shots from the 3-point line and went 14-of-25 on uncontested field-goal attempts (defender at least four feet away); San Antonio went 13-of-33 when uncontested.
Not great, Bob. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUWrl3-mc8)
And how about turnovers? The Spurs had 14 of those, which led to 17 points for the Clippers. Los Angeles’ offense is good enough to hurt you badly without the help of easy shots and extra opportunities. And on the other hand, San Antonio needs all the chances it can get, especially on the road where it’s struggled mightily to score.
This is where it got really ugly. The Clippers posted 23 fast-break points last night, picking apart the Spurs’ transition defense … or lack thereof. For perspective, the Spurs gave up fewer than 14 transition points per game, and 23 would’ve led the league by several points (the Warriors were tops in the NBA this year at 20.8 fast-break points per game).
San Antonio shot the ball very poorly last night, plain and simple. I haven’t even mentioned the free-throw line, where the Spurs hit just 14 of their 26 attempts. But in this case, what else is there to say other than shoot better and cut back on the turnovers? The Clippers’ defense was good, and DeAndre Jordan’s presence around the rim was hugely impactful. Even when he wasn’t tomahawking basketballs out of the air, he was causing hesitation among Spurs players when they dribbled in and around the paint.
But there were still a lot of open looks for San Antonio. You can reason those shots that missed their marks last night will go in on Wednesday, but when the Spurs lost home court on the final night of the regular season, they lost any guarantee of that. They’re now shooting worse than 34 percent from the 3-point line this season when out on the road, a precipitous drop-off from the nearly 40 percent they shoot as a team in the comfortable confines of the AT&T Center. It’s a problem, considering they may not have home-court advantage at any point during their playoff run.
San Antonio will come back sharper on Wednesday. It’s just what they do when Gregg Popovich and Co. have a few days off to reflect and game-plan. But a lot of what has to improve isn’t exactly fixed by watching film.
Basketball can be a really simple game — sometimes it just comes down to making your shots. Last night, the Spurs didn’t do that, and they’re becoming increasingly unable to afford another poor performance. They’re still in OK shape — all they need is one of the first two games to swing momentum — but they’re going to have to solve the road-game riddle that’s been plaguing them all season.
Notes:
Los Angeles did a really good job defending Kawhi Leonard. The two early fouls did nothing to help his rhythm, but the Clippers had a help defender hedging toward Leonard all night, and it was clearly deterring his attack.
My goodness, Chris Paul was something else. It’s going to be particularly interesting to watch how Pop defends him going forward, because we didn’t see much of Leonard on CP3 until the later stages of the game. Before the series started, I wrote/talked about how I thought Kawhi would be used situationally on Paul, that he wouldn’t be his primary defender. That was the case last night, but I’m not sure how if that’s gonna fly anymore. Leonard has to shoulder a bigger load offensively these days, so I get the idea of conserving energy. But it’s not like chasing J.J. Redick all over the place is any less exhausting. Pop’s hand may be forced a bit here, especially with Parker’s bumps and bruises. And SOMEONE has to slow that guy down, or the Spurs are in trouble.
San Antonio needs Tiago Splitter in this series. They’re keeping kind of quiet on the seriousness of this injury, but it’s clearly a factor.
It’s pretty normal behavior to overreact to the outcome of games in the postseason. The stakes are so significant, it’s difficult not to. But my reaction to last night’s game is basically…meh. That did not look to me like a game the Clippers dominated. San Antonio became stagnant at times and missed a ton of shots, then things snowballed. The Clippers, with their size and athleticism and dunking and shot-making, can run a score up in a hurry and make it feel worse than it actually is. I’ve written on that subject for years. And keep in mind, L.A. absolutely needed that game. A loss and an immediate changing of home-court advantage would’ve been a huge blow to start their playoff run. Let’s see how the Spurs respond when they’re cornered.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.
http://www.48minutesofhell.com/game-1-spurs-play-right-into-clippers-hands
Game 1: Spurs Play Right Into Clippers' Hands
There are three things you simply cannot do when playing the Clippers: Shoot 3s poorly, turn the ball over too much, and fail to sufficiently execute transition defense. San Antonio landed that trifecta of terribleness late Sunday night, and Los Angeles completed a 107-92 Game 1 mauling that’s set an unexpected tone in the Spurs’ run at defending their title.
Let’s go down the list, shall we? San Antonio hit just 10 of its 33 3-point attempts. That’s only the fifth time in franchise history they’ve missed at least 23 shots from deep in a single game, per Basketball-Reference. The only other times: in a 95-82 win over the Grizzlies on opening night after the 2011 lockout, and in an ugly 100-83 loss to the Knicks in January of 2013. Meanwhile, the Clippers hit 10 of their 18 shots from the 3-point line and went 14-of-25 on uncontested field-goal attempts (defender at least four feet away); San Antonio went 13-of-33 when uncontested.
Not great, Bob. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUWrl3-mc8)
And how about turnovers? The Spurs had 14 of those, which led to 17 points for the Clippers. Los Angeles’ offense is good enough to hurt you badly without the help of easy shots and extra opportunities. And on the other hand, San Antonio needs all the chances it can get, especially on the road where it’s struggled mightily to score.
This is where it got really ugly. The Clippers posted 23 fast-break points last night, picking apart the Spurs’ transition defense … or lack thereof. For perspective, the Spurs gave up fewer than 14 transition points per game, and 23 would’ve led the league by several points (the Warriors were tops in the NBA this year at 20.8 fast-break points per game).
San Antonio shot the ball very poorly last night, plain and simple. I haven’t even mentioned the free-throw line, where the Spurs hit just 14 of their 26 attempts. But in this case, what else is there to say other than shoot better and cut back on the turnovers? The Clippers’ defense was good, and DeAndre Jordan’s presence around the rim was hugely impactful. Even when he wasn’t tomahawking basketballs out of the air, he was causing hesitation among Spurs players when they dribbled in and around the paint.
But there were still a lot of open looks for San Antonio. You can reason those shots that missed their marks last night will go in on Wednesday, but when the Spurs lost home court on the final night of the regular season, they lost any guarantee of that. They’re now shooting worse than 34 percent from the 3-point line this season when out on the road, a precipitous drop-off from the nearly 40 percent they shoot as a team in the comfortable confines of the AT&T Center. It’s a problem, considering they may not have home-court advantage at any point during their playoff run.
San Antonio will come back sharper on Wednesday. It’s just what they do when Gregg Popovich and Co. have a few days off to reflect and game-plan. But a lot of what has to improve isn’t exactly fixed by watching film.
Basketball can be a really simple game — sometimes it just comes down to making your shots. Last night, the Spurs didn’t do that, and they’re becoming increasingly unable to afford another poor performance. They’re still in OK shape — all they need is one of the first two games to swing momentum — but they’re going to have to solve the road-game riddle that’s been plaguing them all season.
Notes:
Los Angeles did a really good job defending Kawhi Leonard. The two early fouls did nothing to help his rhythm, but the Clippers had a help defender hedging toward Leonard all night, and it was clearly deterring his attack.
My goodness, Chris Paul was something else. It’s going to be particularly interesting to watch how Pop defends him going forward, because we didn’t see much of Leonard on CP3 until the later stages of the game. Before the series started, I wrote/talked about how I thought Kawhi would be used situationally on Paul, that he wouldn’t be his primary defender. That was the case last night, but I’m not sure how if that’s gonna fly anymore. Leonard has to shoulder a bigger load offensively these days, so I get the idea of conserving energy. But it’s not like chasing J.J. Redick all over the place is any less exhausting. Pop’s hand may be forced a bit here, especially with Parker’s bumps and bruises. And SOMEONE has to slow that guy down, or the Spurs are in trouble.
San Antonio needs Tiago Splitter in this series. They’re keeping kind of quiet on the seriousness of this injury, but it’s clearly a factor.
It’s pretty normal behavior to overreact to the outcome of games in the postseason. The stakes are so significant, it’s difficult not to. But my reaction to last night’s game is basically…meh. That did not look to me like a game the Clippers dominated. San Antonio became stagnant at times and missed a ton of shots, then things snowballed. The Clippers, with their size and athleticism and dunking and shot-making, can run a score up in a hurry and make it feel worse than it actually is. I’ve written on that subject for years. And keep in mind, L.A. absolutely needed that game. A loss and an immediate changing of home-court advantage would’ve been a huge blow to start their playoff run. Let’s see how the Spurs respond when they’re cornered.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.