Spurs-Clippers Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Feb 17 2012 1:57PM

While highlight shows focus on Linsanity and monster dunks from Blake Griffin, the San Antonio Spurs have quietly put together the NBA's longest winning streak of the season.

The veteran team is far less flashy than Griffin's Clippers, but Los Angeles is right behind the Spurs in the race for first place in the Western Conference.

In a matchup of division leaders, San Antonio looks to extend its winning streak to 10 games and continue its dominance of the Clippers on Saturday night at Staples Center.

After being in eighth place in the West following a 101-100 overtime defeat at Dallas on Jan. 29, the Southwest Division-leading Spurs (21-9) have reeled off nine straight victories to vault into second, one game ahead of Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles (19-9).

"We've been on fire lately," Tony Parker said after Wednesday's 113-106 victory over Toronto. "We've been playing very good basketball, moving the ball great."

Parker scored 34 points, handed out 14 assists and made all 12 of his free throws against the Raptors. In his last eight games, Parker is averaging 25.3 points - 6.3 better than his season average.

He's led the way during the Spurs' longest winning streak since a 10-game run Dec. 3-22, 2010.

"No one is walking around here talking about (the streak), no one is sitting here focused on it," forward Richard Jefferson said. "It's more about how can we get better."

There are few areas where San Antonio seems like it needs to improve, although its defense appeared to take a step back Wednesday. After allowing an average of 87.4 points in the first eight games of their win streak, the Spurs let the Raptors shoot 54.7 percent and become the first team to reach triple digits against them since the Mavericks.

San Antonio had little trouble slowing down the Clippers in the first meeting, a 115-90 home win Dec. 28, but Griffin and Chris Paul have since had seven weeks to further develop their chemistry.

Griffin ranks in the top 10 in the league in scoring at 21.2 points per game, while Paul averages 18.2 and ranks in the top five in assists at 8.8 per game. The Clippers, 11-3 at home, are averaging 98.5 points in their last 12 games.

Even when the offense struggled like it did Thursday in Portland, Los Angeles still found a way to win. Paul was scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting with one assist before scoring 13 in the fourth quarter in a 74-71 comeback victory.

"This says that we've matured as a team," said Griffin, who had 21 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double in eight games. "I think we've answered the question that we can win on the road."

Now Griffin and Paul need to prove they can beat San Antonio.

The Spurs have won 27 of the last 29 meetings, although they suffered a 90-85 loss in their last trip to Staples Center on Dec. 1, 2010, snapping an 18-game winning streak in the series.

In the first meeting this season, Manu Ginobili made five 3-pointers and finished with 24 points to lead six Spurs in double figures. Ginobili had 11 points Wednesday after combining for nine in his first two games back after missing 5 1/2 weeks with a broken left hand.

Griffin, who has decided not to defend his All-Star slam dunk title, had 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting in San Antonio in December, but the rest of the team combined to shoot 32.7 percent. Paul had 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in his second game in a Clippers uniform.

Spurs beat Clippers 103-100 in OT on Neal's key 3s

By BETH HARRIS
Posted Feb 18 2012 8:08PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Gary Neal went from butterfingers to brilliant in a span of 3.8 seconds, hitting a tying 3-pointer late in regulation and a go-ahead 3 in overtime.

Neal and Tony Parker helped the San Antonio Spurs hold off the Los Angeles Clippers 103-100 on Saturday in a matchup of the West's second and third-best teams. The Spurs won their NBA-leading 10th in a row to solidify their hold on the No. 2 spot behind Oklahoma City.

"At this level, confidence is the biggest thing you can have," said Neal, a second-year pro out of Towson. "It's good to be counted on with your teammates."

Neal was one of six Spurs in double figures with 17 points. He lost a pass from Parker, who had 30 points, with 9.5 seconds left in regulation.

"First of all, I wanted to strangle him because I didn't know what happened," Parker said, his hands forming a circle. "He lost it, but that can happen to anyone and we kept playing. We got the ball back and he hit a big 3. He's known for that."

Neal stole the ball 3.8 seconds later and hit the tying 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left in regulation.

"I was running toward Chris (Paul) to foul him because I thought he was going to try to run out the clock," Neal said. "My first dribble was toward the rim and I remembered we were down three."

Paul blamed himself for losing the ball near half-court with 6.9 seconds left in regulation. Without any timeouts, the Clippers had to get the ball in play.

"Man, that was probably the worst play I've been a part of since I've been in the NBA," he said.

"We were taking the ball out and we knew they had to foul. I was running to the backcourt when the ball came, and I didn't want to get a backcourt violation. So the dummy I am, I threw the ball and it went right to Gary Neal and he hit the 3. We obviously gave that game away right there - up three with the ball with some seconds left. We've got to win games like that."

Neal's 3 with 25 seconds to go on Tim Duncan's pass in overtime snapped a 98-all tie.

"Tim looked over and I was in the corner wide-open," Neal said.

Matt Bonner added 13 points, Duncan had 11 points and 17 rebounds in over 41 minutes, and Danny Green scored 11 points for the Spurs, 6-0 on their annual rodeo trip that includes nine games. DeJuan Blair had 10 points.

"Sometimes you got to get lucky and we definitely got lucky," Duncan said. "It's been a great run for us."

It was costly, though.

Spurs star Manu Ginobili, who finished with two points in 19 minutes, twice left the court in the fourth. A team spokesman said after the game that he has a strained left oblique. Ginobili was playing in his fourth game after missing 22 games with a broken bone in his left hand.

Backup forward-center Tiago Splitter left with a sprained right calf in the first quarter.

"It looks like we won the battle, but it makes it tough to win the war," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "But it was a great game. A lot of guys played their hearts out. And we've been on the road a while, so I couldn't be more proud of what they did just hanging in. It started out real poorly, but they kept their heads about themselves, trusted each other and we were fortunate enough to get it done."

Blake Griffin had 22 points and 20 rebounds, and Paul and Randy Foye scored 21 points for the Clippers. Paul scored Los Angeles' last 10 points in regulation, rallying his team from a four-point deficit over the final 2:31, but the Clippers still lost for the 20th time in their last 21 games against the Spurs to stay No. 3 in the West.

"Just to lose that way is bitter," Foye said.

Griffin said: "It should hurt and we should hold that feeling into our practice tomorrow. It's disappointing but we can't dwell on it."

In overtime, Paul hit two free throws to give the Clippers their last lead at 97-95. Bonner hit a 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a one-point lead before Griffin got fouled. He missed the first and made the second to tie it at 98 with 42 seconds left.

Neal then hit the go-ahead 3-pointer and Parker made two free throws for a 103-98 lead.

Griffin dunked with 10 seconds to go to get within three. Neal missed two free throws, but Paul missed a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left.

"It's probably the worst loss we've had this year, considering that a win would have put us in second in the West, and how the game was pretty much over," Paul said. "It hurts to know that me, of all people, put us in that situation."

Paul missed a 14-footer with two-tenths of a second, sending the game to OT.

"Vinny's guys were tenacious, tough and aggressive," Popovich said about Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro's team. "They scrambled just as much as we did and worked as hard as we did."

The Spurs pulled away to a 15-point early in the third. Eric Bledsoe replaced Paul for the Clippers, who ran off 17 straight points to regain a 67-65 lead. Foye scored 16 points in the period, including 11 in the spurt, and he set up DeAndre Jordan's dunk with an alley-oop pass.

Neal scored the last five points of the quarter to put San Antonio back in front 70-67.

The Clippers controlled the game's first 17 minutes, helped by 57 percent shooting in the first quarter, when the Spurs missed their first eight shots.

The Clippers were ahead by 10 points when San Antonio closed the half on a 17-6 run. Duncan's layup tied the game before Parker dashed from midcourt to the basket for a layup with 1 second left that gave San Antonio its first lead, 45-43.

NOTES: The Clippers haven't beaten the Spurs since a 90-85 win on Dec. 1, 2010. ... San Antonio won the teams' first meeting by 25 points at home in December. ... The loss snapped the Clippers' two-game winning streak.

Notebook: Spurs 103, Clippers 100

Posted Saturday February 18, 2012 8:03PM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: A rare victory against the Spurs was in the hands of the Clippers, and then they gave it all away. Leading by three points with 9.5 seconds remaining and the ball Saturday afternoon, Clippers point guard Chris Paul couldn't control an in-bounds pass and the ball ended up in the hands of San Antonio sharpshooter Gary Neal at the top of the his 3-point stripe. He turned and sank the tying basket with 5.7 seconds left, allowing the game to stretch into overtime, where he again sank a 3-pointer to put San Antonio ahead for good in the 103-100 victory at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "Probably the worst play I've been a part of since I've been in the NBA."
-- Paul.

THE STAT: The Spurs, second in the Western Conference coming in, won their NBA-leading 10th consecutive game, the second time in the last 14 months they've hit that mark. Meanwhile, the third-place Clippers lost for the 26th time in their last 30 games against the Spurs dating back to December 2003.

TURNING POINT: Undoubtedly, the turnover by Paul was a game changer. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes and, should he hold onto the in-bounds pass, he's likely sent back to the stripe needing just one to clinch the victory. The Clippers didn't hang their heads in the overtime period, however, staying with the Spurs until Tim Duncan reversed a pass to Neal in front of the Clippers' bench and he sank another 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to give the Spurs a 101-98 lead.

HOT: Tony Parker was the best point guard on the floor Saturday afternoon. He finished with 30 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter and two more in overtime, and dished out 10 assists. Parker got to the free-throw line seven times in the final quarter. Blake Griffin did his part for the Clippers, finishing with 22 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. A 52.8 percent free-throw shooter coming into the game, he shot 4-for-6, including a big make with 42.5 seconds left in overtime that tied the score, 98-98. Randy Foye chipped in a season-high 21 points for the Clippers, scoring 16 in the third quarter when the Clippers erased a 15-point deficit with a 17-0 run.

NOT: Clippers backup point guard Eric Bledsoe did a fine job of quarterbacking the 17-0 run and reserve forward Kenyon Martin played his usual rugged defense, even taking on the much-quicker Parker on several occasions, but the L.A. bench wasn't able to contribute much in the scoring column. They were outscored, 36-15, by the San Antonio reserves, led by 17 from Neal and 13 from Matt Bonner.

GOOD MOVE: A combination of Bonner's hot hand and an injury to backup postman Tiago Splitter forced San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich to stick with his 6-foot-10 perimeter player. Bonner ended up playing a season-high 36 minutes, third most behind Duncan and Parker.

BAD MOVE: Again, we have to go back to the in-bounds play in the final seconds of regulation. Whether something simpler needed to be drawn up by head coach Vinny Del Negro or Paul simply should have handled the pass more delicately, that's up for debate. The bottom line, the Clippers lost the game on that play.

QUOTABLE II: "It was just an unfortunate play. It was kind of the perfect storm, per se, just in terms of where Gary Neal caught the ball ... it was just a bad play overall."
-- Del Negro.

NOTABLE: The victory may have come at a cost for the Spurs. Manu Ginobili, in his fourth game back after missing the previous 22 with a fractured hand, left in the third quarter with a strained left oblique muscle. Ginobili was the team's second-leading scorer the last two seasons. Splitter, who came in averaging 9.7 points and 5.4 rebounds, did not play the last three quarters after suffering a strained right calf. The second-year player from Brazil had scored in double figures in the previous five games ... Duncan matched his season high with 17 rebounds. He also contributed 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Monday @ Golden State, Wednesday vs. Denver, Feb. 28 vs. Minnesota. For the Spurs, Monday @ Utah, Tuesday @ Portland, Thursday @ Denver.

• Spurs: Ford
• Clippers: Billups

• Spurs: --
• Clippers: --

• Lead Changes: 11
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #36 David Jones, #28 Tommy Nunez Jr.
• Attendance: 19217
• Duration: 2:39