Game is Wednesday, 8:30 CST. National TV ESPN.
LA Clippers (1-7) at San Antonio (5-1)
Tipoff: 9:30 pm EST Wed Nov 10, 2010
TV: ESPN, FSSW
By Jeff Mezydlo
Even when healthy, the Los Angeles Clippers have not been able to beat San Antonio for more than four years.
With injuries starting to mount, the Clippers could have a more difficult time ending that drought.
The visiting Clippers could be without two starters Wednesday night while trying to avoid an 18th consecutive loss to the Spurs, who will be looking for their fifth straight win.
Los Angeles (1-7) played without star Baron Davis in a 97-88 home loss to San Antonio on Nov. 1. The veteran guard returned from a four-game absence with a sore knee to score four points in 10 minutes of a 101-82 loss at unbeaten New Orleans on Tuesday, but center Chris Kaman left with a sprained ankle.
It’s uncertain if Kaman and guard Eric Gordon, who missed Tuesday’s contest with a shoulder injury, will be available when the Clippers try for their first win over the Spurs (5-1) since March 7, 2006. Los Angeles also could be without reserve guard Randy Foye for a seventh straight game because of a hamstring injury.
Gordon, averaging a team-leading 21.1 points, had 23 and 11 assists against San Antonio last week.
Though the Spurs are 4-0 in November and have won 15 straight at home over the Clippers, they won’t take anything for granted no matter who suits up for Los Angeles.
“We can’t give up games,” guard Tony Parker told the Spurs’ official website. “We have to do the same things we’ve been doing and don’t give them hope.”
It seems like the Clippers have consistently looked hopeless averaging 86.0 points while losing 45 of 49 to the Spurs over the last 13 years.
San Antonio has not been nearly as dominant during a four-game winning streak in which its victories have come by a combined margin of 18 points.
“We’re happy but we’re not satisfied,” said Parker, who had a team-high 19 points and nine assists at Los Angeles.
Manu Ginobili had 26 points and rookie guard Gary Neal came off the bench to score 15 in a 95-91 win at Charlotte on Monday.
Neal, who spent three seasons playing in Italy, Spain and Turkey, had 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting - 4 of 8 from 3-point range - versus Los Angeles.
“He’s new to the league this year but he’s not impressed or intimidated by anything,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He just comes to play, he’s hard-nosed.”
Neal helped the Spurs’ bench outscore the Clippers’ reserves 32-7 in the last meeting.
The Clippers’ bench played better Tuesday, led by rookie Al-Farouq Aminu’s 20 points. However, Los Angeles starters combined for 39 points.
Los Angeles has committed 48 turnovers the last two games, including a season-high 25 against the Hornets.
“You can’t expect to win at home or on the road when you have that many turnovers, so we’ve got to do a much better job of valuing the possession of the ball,” first-year Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said.
Los Angeles, 0-3 on a four-game trip, has dropped eight straight on the road dating to a 99-93 win at Houston on March 25.
*********************
Team Stat Leaders
Points
Eric Gordon LAC 21.1
Manu Ginobili SA 21.8
Rebounds
Blake Griffin LAC 11.0
Tim Duncan SA 10.7
Assists
Baron Davis LAC 5.3
Tony Parker SA 8.3
Wednesday: Clippers (1-7) at Spurs (5-1)
by Jeff McDonald
*********************
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...ason-to-smile/Bonner update...
"He’s looking better,” Popovich said. “Matt’s looking like he’s got a chance to be probable for Saturday. But for Wednesday, I would list him as doubtful.”
Last edited by duncan228; 11-10-2010 at 01:27 AM.
national televison, appearance number one
This will be the first game of the season I've been able to see. Thank the gods I rolled into a major FOB just in time (I actually have TV now!).
Go Spurs Go!
http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html
Referee Assignments
Wed. Nov. 10
L.A. Clippers @ San Antonio: Mike Callahan; Josh Tiven; Sean Wright
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...ected-to-play/Duncan ill, but expected to play
by Jeff McDonald
...Spurs power forward Tim Duncan did not participate in shootaround Wednesday morning, opting to stay home to nurse what the team has termed “flu-like symptoms.”
Will the complacency bug bite the Spurs Wednesday night?
by Tim Griffin
Maybe Tim stayed up too late playing XBox or something.
Black ops just came out its understandable
you guys
I knew it. Dude stayed up till like 4-5 this morning w/Antonio Daniels. Frkn Tim. TEAM first Tim. Selfish
In all seriousness, I love my Clippers. They are my second favorite team in the NBA. Have been since the days of Brand, Richardson, Maggette, McInnis, Miles, and Odom. I thought that team was going places, but then realized it was owned by Donald Sterling. Too bad because they could've been very good if they had stuck together, had better ownership, and better coaching at that time.
I expect the Spurs to beat them pretty easily, but you never know. The Spurs could have a let down game. Pop may experiment with the lineups tonight if its a blowout. I wanna see Tiago playing more minutes with the starting lineup. I wouldn't mind seeing Manu and Blair coming off the bench together
Oh yeah...The Clippers also had Olowakandi that season too. Damn you Sterling
true true
View from the other side.
Clippers at San Antonio - Game Preview
by Steve Perrin
Clips Nation
The Back Story:
November 1, 2010 in Los Angeles - San Antonio 97, Clippers 88 - Box Score Recap
The Big Picture:
The Clippers are truly uncanny at getting injured. Last week I pointed out that Oklahoma City got 82 games from four of their five starters last season. The season is only two weeks old, and three Clippers starters have already suffered injuries. Luckily, it's nothing serious thus far. Baron Davis has a troublesome knee that has caused him to miss 4 games, Eric Gordon has a bone bruise on his left shoulder, Chris Kaman sprained an ankle. Just little things really, these kinds of injuries happen all the time in the NBA. At least they happen all the time to the Clippers. Baron played 10 minutes last night in New Orleans, and may try to do something similar tonight in San Antonio. Gordon has missed one game, and is doubtful for this one. Kaman is out at least two weeks with the ankle, and could be out longer. If Gordon can make it back before Baron, we could actually see a lot of the U23 team. Al-Farouq Aminu had a mini-breakout game in New Orleans with 20 points and 8 rebounds and will likely be getting more and more minutes at the small forward, provided he keeps producing. But where the Clippers are going to get points, without this year's leading scorer (Gordon) or last year's leading scorer (Kaman) or their primary ball handler (Davis) is anybody's guess; hopefully Blake Griffin can bounce back from a poor performance in New Orleans. The Clippers record sits at 1-7, and they haven't won in San Antonio since 2002, and they've lost 17 straight to the Spurs overall, and they are likely down three starters tonight. The only good news is that they're facing Detroit at home on Friday, where they could actually be favored to win a game for the first time this season.
The Antagonist:
The Spurs are off to a 5-1 start, but they're certainly not dominating opponents. Their last three victories have been by 4 points in Charlotte, by 3 at home in overtime against Houston, and by 2 in Phoenix. Of course, a win's a win, and the Spurs have the advantage of having a team that knows how to win from force of habit. The Clippers would dearly love to develop that habit themselves some day. The core of the San Antonio team is inevitably getting older, and you hear about the young athletes that they've added to help infuse the team with some youth. But the facts so far illustrate a different story. The top five Spurs in minutes played this season are the big three of Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan, followed by Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess - of that group, Parker is 28 and the others are all 30 or older. Moreover, with Ginobili now in the starting lineup, he's averaging a career high in minutes per game so far, as is Parker. So much for any youth movement. DeJuan Blair, who looked like the steal of the 2009 draft last season, has been abysmal so far, making just 11 of 40 shots on the season. Rookie Tiago Splitter is being brought along slowly. Which leaves the Spurs still pretty dependent on the older guys. Fortunately for them, they seem more than up to the task.
The Subplots
* Center. Without Kaman, it will be interesting to see what Vinny Del Negro does at center. When Kaman first went down Tuesday, VDN brought in DeAndre Jordan, which is what you might expect. But Jordan only played 17 minutes, which is pretty close to his season average, despite Kaman's absence. Jarron Collins soaked up 10 minutes. And for 14 minutes, Blake Griffin was at the five, with Craig Smith at the four. In fact, VDN started the second half with Griffin and Smith in the game. Oh, and it's important, because someone is going to have to defend Tim Duncan.
* Gordon. Eric Gordon had not one but two highlight reel dunks when these two teams met in Staples Center last week. It would boost the Clippers chances a lot he is able to play in this one. Actually, it's a massive long shot whether he plays or not, but it'd be more fun to watch if he were out there.
* Raining threes. The Spurs have been taking a lot of threes this season. Ginobili is leading the league in three point attempts per game at over 8. As a team, they take over 21 a game, which is top five in the league. And they're making almost 40% of them. The Clippers on the other hand are making 28% from deep. In the first meeting, the Spurs made 9 threes to the Clippers' 4. In fact, the vast majority of the Spurs' three balls have come from 4 players: Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Gary Neal and James Anderson. In other words, stay close to those guys.
* Jefferson. Jefferson is having a resurrection year so far in San Antonio. He scored at least 16 in the first five games of the season, including a 28 point outburst versus Phoenix. His first season in San Antonio he scored just over 12 points a game, which was his lowest average since his rookie year. He finally had an off night against Charlotte Monday, scoring only 6, but he looked great shooting the ball against the Clippers last week.
* Griffin versus McDyess. In the first meeting, Blake Griffin blew by Antonio McDyess like he was glued to the floor on a couple of occasions. Blair's stuggles have resulted in easly calls for McDyess - let's hope we see that matchup, because I just don't think the 36 year old can keep up with the 21 year old.
* The last time the Clippers won in San Antonio... The starting backcourt was Jeff McInnis and Eric Piatkowski.
* Superstar for one game: Gary Neal. The Spurs always seem to have a knack for finding quality players in strange places. Or maybe everyone is a quality player in their system. Gary Neal is a 26 year old rookie whose been bouncing around European leagues, from Turkey to Spain to Italy to Spain again, for four years since his college days at Towson. Yet Neal is getting 13 minutes per game, despite playing behind Parker and the formerly highly regarded George Hill.
Famous Quotation:
They are a sort of post-house,where the Fates
Change horses, making history change its tune,
Then spur away o'er empires and o'er states,
Leaving at last not much besides chronology,
Excepting the post-obits of theology.
Lord Byron, Don Juan
Get the Spurs perspective Pounding the Rock.
Edit: Disregard, old.
Slumping Clippers aiming for first 2010 victory tonight against Spurs
by Tim Griffin
Last edited by duncan228; 11-10-2010 at 07:44 PM.
that's for last week's game lol
Watch out for Choo Choo, and Mr. Anderson running the train on the clips again.
where do you guys watch the games online? i remember some of you provided a link for a preseason game but i lost the link
will espn360 cover it? im at utsa ritee now so i got acess to it but im not sure if theyll black it out.
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