By Paul Garcia, Project Spurs
20 turnovers, being outrebounded 46-29, and allowing a team to shoot 55% in a game will usually lead to disaster.
That was Wednesday night for the San Antonio Spurs in Los Angeles. A year ago the Spurs swept the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA Playoffs, but after a summer of adding some new faces to their team, the Clippers got at least one victory, in dominating fashion.
The Clippers blew out the Spurs 106-84 behind a dominant performance from their two frontcourt players DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, who combined for 42 points and 21 rebounds. As the Spurs’ defense had been showing signs of improvement through the first four games of the season, it was the Clippers who were the defensive example on Wednesday as they totaled eight blocks, 13 steals, and forced the Spurs to turn the ball over 20 times, and shoot just 41% in the game.
The Spurs’ run-and-gun offense? The most points it could muster in a quarter Wednesday was 25. The “Big Three” of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili combined to shoot 7-of-23 for 23 combined points. That usually won’t translate into a win.
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