SAN ANTONIO – On their fifth game in seven nights, put in an immediate 8-0 hole on the road in San Antonio, the Clippers could’ve conceded it wasn’t going to be their night.
Instead, a 28-4 Clippers run followed. And even more so than in any of their previous four wins of the year, the Clippers (5-1) put together the type of win against the Spurs (5-2) that fully demonstrated what they can look like when operating at full capacity.
Even if head coach Doc Rivers thinks it can get even better.
“I can’t wait to look at the film,” Rivers said. “We made shots, but we still missed shots that we can make. They’re going to fall.”
They fell Saturday more frequently than ever before this season, with the Clippers pouring 39 points on the Spurs in the first quarter, then following with a 34-point second quarter.
Suddenly, a Clippers team that entered San Antonio in the bottom three in the league in field goal percentage through five games had scored more first-half points against head coach Gregg Popovich’s Spurs than any team had before (73).
Blake Griffin had everything working. When he wasn’t running the floor and dunking, he was laying it in, or making a hook shot, or dribbling to open space before knocking down a 20-footer. He couldn't miss, and the Clippers continued to find him until he racked up 26 first-half points on 12-for-16 shooting.
“Through movement,” Rivers said. “They did a good job of not just handing it to him. They swung it, swung it, then dropped it.”
And kept dropping it to him, letting the power forward go to work. Griffin said the easy shots early boosted his confidence as the night progressed.
With Griffin finding his groove; and with the Clippers getting out in transition as often as they did; and with the Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan pick-and-roll working as smoothly as it had all season; and with J.J. Redick scoring both from behind the arc and on drives; and with Luc Mbah a Moute chipping in not only on cuts but also from the perimeter, the Clippers, shooting 51.6 percent on the night, would’ve been tough enough to stop without the attribute that’s most come to define them most through the first six games of the season.
“It starts with defense,” Griffin said. “I know we always say that, but it really does.”
The Clippers entered the night with the league’s top-ranked defense, and it looked the part once again, holding the Spurs to 40.5 percent shooting and turning 15 San Antonio turnovers into 27 points. No one’s scored 100 points on the Clippers since the opener, and their work defensively led to more easy looks the other way, playing a part in the Clippers outscoring the Spurs by 26 points in the paint.
“I thought we just settled in,” Griffin said. “One of our coaches said early on the first half a high number of points came in transition and early offense and early post-ups, so whenever you’re getting buckets like that, it opens everything up.”
It opened it up for Paul to lob dunks to Jordan, and for Griffin to get 1-on-1 opportunities, and for Redick to score 14 points in a multitude of fashions, and for Mbah a Moute to not only hold Kawhi Leonard to 3-of-13 shooting but to also chip in with 13 points, equaling Redick’s two 3-pointers.
If the Spurs overcommitted to any one Clipper starter, another one would be there to assist.
“That’s two nights in a row that we’ve had great pace, and our defense has been as good as I’ve seen it,” Rivers said. “Our hands are everywhere right now, and that’s a good sign.”
So, too, is the 5-1 record the Clippers take back home after what could’ve easily been a schedule loss. Instead, against a Spurs team that even after Saturday still ranked in the top five in offensive rating, the Clippers turned steals into points, responding with their most electric half of the season, then surviving the rest of the way as wobbly legs started to set in.
“That was a good test for us mentally,” Rivers said, “and we got through it.”