Clippers at Spurs
Chris Paul has just started his sixth season with the Los Angeles Clippers but he is already the top assist man in franchise history. Paul had 11 assists in Friday’s 99-88 road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies to raise his team total to 3,502 and he looks for more helpers when Los Angeles visits the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
Paul also scored 27 points during the memorable contest in which he passed Randy Smith (3,498), the former two-time All-Star with the Buffalo Braves who also played for the San Diego Clippers. "It's definitely cool," Paul said afterward. "It's cool anytime your name will last, but the one thing I always said is I got the easy job. All I have to do is pass it to somebody. They're the ones that have to make the shot." San Antonio recorded a 100-86 victory at Utah on Friday to avenge a home loss to the Jazz earlier in the week after only losing once at home all last season. The Spurs have the second-best record in the NBA while riding the coattails of small forward Kawhi Leonard, the MVP runner-up from last season who has developed into a full-fledged superstar.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (4-1): Los Angeles has held three of its last four opponents to 88 or fewer points and leads the NBA by allowing just 90.4 per outing. “Our defense right now is something we hang our hat on,” Paul said after the win over Memphis. “Our offense, we got to find it.” The problem lies with struggling shooting guards J.J. Redick (10 points per game) and Jamal Crawford (11.2), with Redick reaching double digits just twice while shooting 39.2 percent from the field while Crawford has connected on just 33.3 percent of his attempts and gone 2-of-16 from 3-point range.
ABOUT THE SPURS (5-1): Leonard had 29 points and a season-best 11 rebounds in the victory over the Jazz and he is averaging 28.5 points, made 53-of-55 free throws and has hit at least 50 percent of his field-goal attempts in each of the past five games. "He's been taking over since we started," guard Manu Ginobili said afterward. "He's growing up. He's confident. He feels like he owns the team and that's why he's taking responsibility and doing what he has been doing." Leonard is fully aware of the expectations heaped on him and has handled it well, saying "I'm just coming in with the right mindset, knowing there's going to be more attention on me."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs won two of last season’s three meetings.
2. Los Angeles C DeAndre Jordan collected a season-best 21 rebounds against Memphis and is averaging 13.2 per game.
3. San Antonio PG Tony Parker (knee) missed Friday’s game and coach Gregg Popovich said he will be “out for a week or so.”