By Kyle Soppe
The Clippers know it’ll be a long road to distance themselves from the title of “LA’s other team,” but they took another step forward on Friday night. For the first time in 18 games, they emerged from San Antonio with a win, and an impressive 120-108 one at that.
Two of the Clippers new pieces (Mo Williams and Chris Paul) carried the explosive offense in this statement win. The duo combined for 69 points (57.5% of the teams total), shot 10/15 from behind the arc, made 14/24 inside the arc, and made all 11 free throw attempts. They also contributed 65% of the teams assists and recorded 71.4% of the teams steals.Keep in mind that Mo Williams didn’t even start this game.
The Clips shot a better percentage from three point land (51.9%) than they did from two (50.9%).
Chris Paul and Reggie Evans statistically outproduced four Spurs. Paul’s 11 dimes matched the two highest San Antonio assist totals, while Evans’ 13 rebounds was more than any two Spurs combined.
Blake Griffins points + rebounds (24) was his second lowest total of the season, and the lowest in a winning effort by LAC. Griffin has now scored less than 20 points four times in March after doing so only three times in all of February.
Bobby Simmons led the Clippers in plus/minus ratio in a season high 28 minutes. He has just started playing regular minutes, and does the dirty work that winning teams need.
The Spurs had the games two highest scoring quarters, but couldn’t remain consistent enough to make that advantage last.
Without MVP candidate Tony Parker in the lineup, San Antonio divided up the scoring load among four players, all of whom tallied between 16-22 points.
Tim Duncan missed eight free throws after missing only nine in his previous six games. In fact, the Spurs left 12 points at the line, the exact difference in the final score.
Manu Ginobili’s team high 22 points was his greatest total in 2012. This was the Spurs first loss when Ginobili’s point total reaches double figures this year.
In five of the other nine NBA games last night, the teams combined to make 11 or fewer three pointers. The Spurs made 12, but were outscored from behind the arc.
Nine games today and eight tomorrow. Any teams you want broken down?
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