48MoH: Clippers 88, Spurs 118

[Blackjack]

Clippers 88, Spurs 118
by Jesse Blanchard



Not exactly known for being fleet of foot, Matt Bonner pulled his best David Robinson impression, helping to force Craig Smith into a missed layup and then beating the Clippers in transition for an “acrobatic” reverse layup.

With the score still a reasonable 20-14 before the basket, and still in the first quarter, that sequence is all you need to know about the effort level of a Clippers team that rolled over at the first sign of adversity. Or, as head coach Kim Hughes put it:

“I think we had four players on our defensive side competing tonight and that’s not enough,” Hughes said. “I thought most of our guys didn’t compete.

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[Mr Bones]

Watching the Clippers play defense is generally depressing-- it's mostly 5 millionaires at a time who just don't care what's going on around them.

[Blackjack]

Spurs 118 Clippers 88: Yeah, let me tell you, LeBron would much rather play for the Clippers with the worst owner in the league for a team with an aging gunner point guard that got blasted off the face of the earth than a Nets team with fewer losses but a better future.

George Hill got to coach in this one. I'm not kidding. Pop gave HIll the clipboard late in the game and had him show D-League call-up Cedric Jackson how he blew an assignment. Then Hill asked Pop what play he wanted to run, and Pop said "I don't know, whatever you want." This means that A. Popovich is the most awesome coach in the history of the NBA and B. the Clippers got outcoached by a second year backup point guard.

I'd be willing to give the Clippers a pass on this one, after all, how often does Matt Bonner score 21 points, if it weren't for the fact that they let Matt Bonner score 21 points.

DeAndre Jordan showed more signs of something special, mixed with signs of nothingness.

[Biggems]

last night was a magical night for the Spurs...it was one of those rare games that happen about as often as a solar eclipse. i mean pretty much everything went the Spurs way last night....Duncan and Manu got some serious rest. It was a blowout victory. Players who have been struggling as of late were on fire (Bonner, Mason, Jefferson). The young guys came in, didn't give up the lead, and played very well. All the bounces seemed to go our way. It was one of those games where you just sit back, laugh, and enjoy, cause you know it wont happen this way again for a very long time.

i get even more joy cause over the last few seasons, it seems like our opponents have been having more and more games like this...where they make absurd shots, get all the bounces, and even the scrubs at the end of the bench make a big impact.

it was great to finally have our night like this.

GO SPURS GO

[TJastal]

last night was a magical night for the Spurs...it was one of those rare games that happen about as often as a solar eclipse. i mean pretty much everything went the Spurs way last night....Duncan and Manu got some serious rest. It was a blowout victory. Players who have been struggling as of late were on fire (Bonner, Mason, Jefferson). The young guys came in, didn't give up the lead, and played very well. All the bounces seemed to go our way. It was one of those games where you just sit back, laugh, and enjoy, cause you know it wont happen this way again for a very long time.

i get even more joy cause over the last few seasons, it seems like our opponents have been having more and more games like this...where they make absurd shots, get all the bounces, and even the scrubs at the end of the bench make a big impact.

it was great to finally have our night like this.

GO SPURS GO

I don't think this is a lucky night. With the albatross named Finley gone and Parker out this has really opened up the running game and defensively the team is playing the best it has the entire year. Don't be surprised to see more games like this.

I think the Hill/RJ/Manu starting trio is extremely effective from what I've seen so far..., ball movement is great, there is adequate 3pt shooting for spacing and RJ seems to be much more effective which is probably the biggest plus.

Then having RMJ and Bonner playing their roles as effective snipers to a tee and Hairston slicing up the opposing teams defenses its a good inside/outside attack from the bench. I hope Pop adds Parker to this bench unit to help balance it out and to keep from disrupting the trio mentioned above.

[spursrocks]

parker is not the same 2-3years ago, bad thing about parker is his defence. its sucks very much, thats why hill and bogans should be in the line up together with parker to help on D. parker and JUST CANT PLAY TOGETHER PERIOD. when parker plays other players wont get into rhythm. if you guys want parker, we live or die on parkers play. if parker scores 30+ points we have chance of winning, opponents lock down a step slower parker, spurs are in deep . SO
i would stick with HIll and Gino who plays BETTER DEFENSE, SHARES THE BALL BETTER AND EVERYBODY GETS INTO RHYTHM AND CAN SHOOT THE 3! PARKER ON THE OTHER HAND SCORES BUT SUCKS ON D, SHOOT FIRST POINT GUARD WHO RARELY SHARES THE BALL AND CAN'T SHOOT 3s!(hill is better 3 points shooter better defender compared to parker)
pg - Hill
Sg- Gino
Sf-
PF- Duncan
C- Dice
bring Parkers ass off the bench
bench
pg- parker
sg- mase
sf- malik/bogans
pf- blair
c- bonner/mahinmi
stick with this starting line up of hill, gino, , dice and dunc. i believe in a 5th trophy. with parker in the starting line up, 1st round exit baby!

[spursrocks]

agree with TJastal
the combination of hill, gino and is the best line up of this season.
parker who?

[Muser]

Deandre Jordan reminds me of Chris Wilcox, great athlete with huge potential, but just lazy.

[TJastal]

stick with this starting line up of hill, gino, , dice and dunc. i believe in a 5th trophy. with parker in the starting line up, 1st round exit baby!

We can only hope Pop sticks with what is working and what makes sense besides, but if the whole Finley debacle is any indication of anything, he will be too stupid and gutless to make the right decision.

He'll cow-tow to the whiny Parker who will demand to be a starter and the spurs will pay the price with a 1st round exit.

[duncan228]

San Antonio 118 - Clippers 88 - The Humiliation is Complete
by Steve Perrin
Clips Nation

I didn't watch the game. I was returning home at 7:30, aware that the game would be in the fourth quarter, trying to decide whether or not to turn on the radio, and I realized that I really had nothing to lose. If it was a close, then I could be relieved and pleasantly suprised, and I could watch the game on the DVR when I got home. If it was a blowout, as I pretty much knew it would be, then I could save myself a couple of hours of aggravation. The moment I turned on the radio, I could tell from Brian Sieman's tone that it was as I had suspected: another fourth quarter of rest for Tim Duncan.

It's now been more than four years since the Clippers beat the Spurs, but the team has achieved a level of futility this season that we haven't experienced in the past. The margins of victory in the four games were 25, 17, 16 and 31. More tellingly, lest you look at those middle two games and think they were comparitively compe ive, the Spurs' biggest lead in the four games was 31, 25, 31 and 33. San Antonio led by at least 25 in the fourth quarter of every single meeting with the Clippers this season.

And you're thinking, "Well, it's the mighty Spurs. It's no shame to lose to them." The only problem with that logic is that the Spurs are seventh in the West this season. This is not a team that is destroying all comers. It wasn't that long ago that the Clippers fancied themselves a playoff contender this season. Well, here's a team at the tail end of the Western Conference playoff race, and the Clippers haven't made them sweat for one minute of four games.

***

There's definitely some sort of mystique at work here, but come on. You can't just write off four games every year because some opponent has a voodoo doll of you.

Here are the numbers I find most interesting from the season series.

The first number is how many minutes total the Spurs All Star played. The second is how many minutes he played in the fourth quarter. In a four game season series, not one of the Spurs' big three averaged more than half a game of basketball against the Clippers. And the ultimate insult is that of a potential 142 fourth quarter minutes, the big three were actually on the court for 9 minutes (8 minutes and 34 seconds, to be precise). No wait - that's not the ultimate insult - apparently, in the fourth quarter of this game, Gregg Popovich handed the clipboard to George Hill during a timeout to give him a taste of coaching, you know, since it was just the Clippers. I'm surprised they don't just let a random fan into the game. That would be fun. It must be pretty hard to sell tickets when the Clippers are in town - that would be a of a promotion. "Tonight at the AT&T Center, one lucky fan will get to play power forward in the fourth quarter against the Clippers!"

The Clippers are sapping me of my joie de vivre. Oh look, Monday they play another team that has owned them this season. Great.