Rowan Kavner
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Throughout the season, Clippers.com provided a “top five” segment every Monday from the previous week’s slate of games.
Since the end of the regular season doesn’t mean as much as the current playoff run, rather than provide footage from a full week of games, it makes more sense to pull from the game that mattered most Sunday night.
Here are the top five plays from Sunday’s Game 1 win against the Spurs.
5) Ballmer loves the Paul lay-up
There were other plays that could’ve gone here from Chris Paul, including a nice up and under lay-in in the lane earlier in the quarter. But no Paul play got the reaction from owner Steve Ballmer quite like this one, as he capped a huge third quarter from the Clippers by blowing by his defender late in the quarter, following up the No. 1 play on this week’s top five with this play.
4) Jordan stuffs Ginobili
Parker saves the ball after an offensive rebound to keep the possession alive for the Spurs. As Boris Diaw backs down Austin Rivers, he draws help from Blake Griffin. Diaw then kicks it out to Manu Ginobili, who thinks Rivers is the only player he needs to beat on the drive. Then out of nowhere comes DeAndre Jordan, who swats the attempt into the stands. Jordan had four blocks on the night.
3)Griffin’s third-quarter dunking begins
Griffin fakes to his right, gets Aron Baynes off balance, then drives to his left, elevates and throws down the two-handed slam. It would’ve been spectacular on its own, but it turned out to be the first of three dunks in the quarter leaving Baynes wondering what more he can do.
2) Griffin takes the dish, throws it down
Griffin takes the inbounds pass and hands it off to Paul, who’s got a 1-on-1 matchup near the elbow. Paul’s considering his options, but as he gets the pick from Griffin, it seems he knows exactly what he wants to do. Diaw and Cory Joseph both stick with Paul, leaving no one on Griffin. Paul whips a one-handed pass around Diaw to Griffin, who throws down the one-handed finish on Baynes.
1) “What a spin. What a dunk.”
Much like play No. 2, Paul and Griffin operate out of the pick-and-roll. Only this time, Paul is setting the pick and Griffin has the ball. Once again, both Diaw and Joseph stick to Paul. Griffin keeps the ball, spins into the lane and, once again, pretends the Baynes help defense isn’t there as he rises and throws down with one hand.