Unfortunately for Lob City, Thursday night’s home matchup with the San Antonio Spurs brought even more possible bad news, as CP3 left the game in the third quarter with an apparent hamstring injury. In the third quarter, going around a screen while chasing Tony Parker, Paul grabbed at his left hamstring – the same one, coincidentally, he hurt against the Spurs in a first-round Game 7 two years ago. “Right now, I’m concerned about everybody’s health”. Paul was the leading scorer on the Clippers with 19 points, six assists and seven rebounds playing just 23 minutes before getting injured.
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Felton finished with a season-high 13 points, Johnson finished with a season-high 9 rebounds, and Speights finished with a season-high 5 assists.
He faced his old team by replacing Paul as the starting point guard.
“That shows the confidence we have in our bench”, added Rivers. “We got him out right away”. All-Star Chris Paul led the starters with 18 points on 6-for-10 (60%) shooting. If both Paul and Griffin are out for a long stretch in the heart of the season, that could greatly affect their playoff ambitions. Pau Gasol had 21 points and nine rebounds.
Wade will wake up on Christmas morning in San Antonio, instead of being with his family in Chicago. “Everyone in the second unit gave us a spark”.
The Spurs started the second half with a good defensive possession, and then passed the ball around to an open Danny Green to cut the lead back to single digits. They led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, without Paul on the court for the majority of the second half. Paul and Griffin are the key players of this team but in spite of that, I think that they will beat the Mavs. “Hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow”. LA defended the rim well and stuck with shooters around the arc, as the Spurs shot 40 percent as a team on the night.
This is easier said than done, but the Clippers lead the league in free throw attempt rate, which is how often they take a trip to the line based on the number of shots they put up.
Rather than going fully into sub-plots and connections, I want to just point out one major one: the Clippers’ backup point guard.
It’s the second time this season the Clippers have beaten San Antonio, which has lost only four other games this season.
“It’s important for the NBA, it’s a great day for the NBA”, declared Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team visits the Cleveland Cavaliers in a re-match of the 2016 NBA Finals. One of the best starts in franchise history, 23-5 heading into Thursday’s game at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers, eliminated the guesswork for Popovich when he made a decision to send Manu Ginobili home from Houston after Tuesday’s dramatic win over the Rockets.
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