Spurs-Clippers Preview
If Gregg Popovich has a recipe for the continued playoff success of his 19-year tenure with the San Antonio Spurs, it seems closely guarded.
One of the ingredients, however, is undeniably winning Game 5s, and the Spurs can return home with a 3-2 lead if that trend continues Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Dating to the Spurs' first championship in 1999, they've gone 23-8 (.742) in Game 5s while posting a 124-79 (.611) in all others. That includes six straight Game 5 victories over the previous two seasons and a 15-1 mark during the team's five title seasons.
The gaudy mark in Game 5s stands in stark contrast to Game 4s, San Antonio's worst at 19-26. That was confirmed in Sunday's 114-105 home loss as San Antonio missed a chance to make Tuesday's contest a clincher.
Chris Paul broke out with 34 points and shot 11 of 19 after being held to seven on 3 of 11 in the Clippers' 100-73 defeat in Game 3. He's scored 20 or more six times in eight games against the Spurs this season.
He also committed two turnovers Sunday after having six in Game 3.
"We tried to come out aggressive, on both ends, offensively and defensively," Paul told the team'sofficial website. "We've got to find a way to not let things like Game 3 happen for us, and respond like this. The great teams come out that way regardless, and hopefully we learned something."
Despite the loss, the Spurs drew some encouragement from their own point guard. Tony Parker scored 18 points after being held to 5.7 and 25.0 percent shooting in the first three games while playing through Achilles tightness.
"He's starting to feel a lot better," forward Tim Duncan said. "It's great to see him going to the basket, make some plays for us. That will pay big dividends for us with the rest of the series, something else they will have to game plan for."
Parker's inconsistency against the Clippers, however, has spanned the season with 12.5 points and 37.6 percent in the eight games.
Guard play as a whole was a huge advantage for Los Angeles in Game 4 with Paul, J.J. Redick and reserves Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers combining for 82 points.
"I could sense it right away, it was a different feeling the first five minutes of the game," Redick said. "Tonight, we were the aggressive team from the start."
Blake Griffin also bounced back from a poor showing in Game 3 with 20 points and 19 rebounds. He's averaged 25.0 and 11.8 in his last eight against San Antonio.
The Spurs got 26 points from Kawhi Leonard, while Duncan added 22 and 14 rebounds. Leonard has probably been the series' most consistent offensive player, averaging 24.8 points and shooting 60.0 percent and 56.3 percent from 3-point range.
Popovich, however, expects more out of the Defensive Player of the Year along with Danny Green in guarding Redick, who was 6 of 12 after going 10 of 32 in the first three games.
"No matter who we had on him, both Kawhi and Danny, didn't do a very good job of playing him the way he needs to be played, so he had the better of them through the whole evening for sure," said Popovich, who has guided the Spurs to wins in four of their last five road playoff games.
The Clippers are 1-7 in Games 5 and 6 since returning to the playoffs in 2012.