Chris Paul had 27 points and 10 assists for the Clippers, who entered the game having won nine of 11.
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That team didn’t have David West coming off the bench to calm things down and anchor the second unit at both ends of the floor.
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As BI’s own Scott Davis noted earlier this week in his breakdown of what makes the Spurs so good, watching San Antonio quietly dominate is an annual National Basketball Association tradition.
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Kawhi Leonard has pretty firmly established himself as a superstar in San Antonio, but the Spurs are still a squad that survives because of all of the pieces contributing to the team. In his first four years in the league, Leonard has earned NBA All-Rookie First team honors, an NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection (2014), an NBA championship (2014), an NBA Finals MVP title (2014), an NBA All-Defensive First Team selection (2015), and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award (2015).
LeMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs and Tony Parker chipped in 21 points as well.
“I thought we played poorly”, he said before Friday’s rematch. “But they’re a team that’s always a good test for anybody because they’re not going to beat themselves, you have to beat them”. “They had guys that shot the ball well and then they had guys that didn’t”. They had to pull him out and they don’t have as many players in the paint.
“We just do what we do”, Popovich said.
“I don’t want him forcing or searching for 3s”, he said. “I was hurt, but there was nothing I could do. We have to focus on the new season”.
But what is less obvious is just how close the Spurs may have come to blowing up the whole thing and going into a rebuilding mode.
Although he missed some time over the last few seasons due to injuries, he has steadily elevated his game, seeing an increase in points, assists, and rebounds each season.
The Spurs seemed to have every drop of momentum as the fourth quarter went on, but the Clippers stayed in it. The play from both Paul and Tony Parker was fantastic throughout the whole game.
This wasn’t the aching, slow Parker who struggled to get up and down the court in the playoffs seven months ago.
Blake Griffin started hot, scoring 10 points in the first quarter and the Clippers led by four heading into the second quarter.
“It was huge, it was huge”, Parker said.
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“That’s a team that caused a lot of problems for us”. In fact, he was hoping they’d go far.
