Spurs at Clippers
The San Antonio Spurs aren’t expecting to go home after the opening
round of the playoffs but the host Los Angeles Clippers have a chance to
eliminate the defending champions in Saturday’s Game 7 of the Western
Conference series. Los Angeles posted its second win in San Antonio on
Thursday and now owns home court for the decisive game of the highly
competitive series.
Few people were predicting the Clippers to prevail in the series but they stand one win away from an epic accomplishment. “A lot of us on our team have been watching these guys since we were kids, in all honesty,” Los Angeles point guard Chris Paul told reporters. “You just see them do the same thing over and over again. It’s been a lot of fun but it all comes down to Game 7.” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich certainly didn’t like what he viewed in the 102-96 loss in Game 6. “We were just soft and it hurt,” Popovich told reporters. “I don’t know how we stayed in the game to be honest with you.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE SPURS: Backup shooting guard Marco Belinelli made seven 3-pointers while scoring 23 points in Game 6 as it was the San Antonio stars who let the team down with subpar efforts. Small forward Kawhi Leonard had his worst game of the series with 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting and power forward Tim Duncan (12 points, 13 rebounds) was the lone starter who played well. While Belinelli stood out, backcourt mates Tony Parker, Danny Green, Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills were a combined 9-of-29 from the field.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS: Power forward Blake Griffin has enjoyed a spectacular series with averages of 24.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and seven assists, and had 26 points and 12 rebounds in Game 6 for his sixth straight double-double. “It has been a lot of fun to play in,” Griffin told reporters after Thursday’s game. “Like we said after Game 5, this series is not over and we haven’t done anything just by winning this game. We have one more game to play and we are happy we are going home to play.” Point guard Chris Paul was just 7-of-21 shooting in Game 6 but contributed 19 points, 15 assists and four steals.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Clippers PF Glen “Big Baby” Davis is questionable for Game 7 after spraining his left ankle on Thursday.
2. Green is 6-of-24 shooting – including 2-of-16 from 3-point range – over the past three games.
3. Los Angeles C DeAndre Jordan is 28-of-40 from the field and 25-of-64 from the free-throw line in the series.