So it's weird that the Clippers, despite owning the third-best record in the West and holding home court advantage in at least the first round of the postseason are actually underdogs, but that's where we are. The Spurs are the defending champions and have been playing at an insanely high level for over a month now, so it's not like their status as favorites was unwarranted.
The Clips have seemingly embraced their role as the underdogs, but looked nothing like one on Sunday night as they topped the Spurs 107-92.
Blake Griffin and Chris Paul may have played their best game together, as Griffin notched 26 points, 12 rebounds and six dimes, while Paul contributed 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists. L.A. jumped out to a 30-18 lead after the first quarter and led almost the entire way. San Antonio made a push in the second period, even leading 37-35 at one point before L.A. reeled-off 10 consecutive points to restore order. The Spurs never led again.
Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with 18 points, and Tim Duncan chimed-in with 11 points and 11 rebounds as San Antonio lost a Game One for the first time in seven years.
The third quarter was when the Clippers really began to pour it on, using a 24-10 run that ignited the STAPLES Center crowd, as highlighted by a pair of Blake Griffin dunks all over the face of Spurs big Aron Baynes. Griffin was relentlessly aggressive all night long, and there was little San Antonio could do by way of stopping it.
The Spurs were held to just 36.6% shooting as a team, including just over 30% from three-point range. Danny Green, who set a San Antonio record for made threes this season with 191 and drilled over 40% of his attempts, was just 1-7 from beyond-the-arc. The Spurs made eight threes as a team, though just two of those came from starters (Green and Leonard).
Meanwhile, the Clippers made a blistering 51% of their shots, and 55.6% of their threes. CP3 was particularly assassinous, drilling 13 of his 20 attempts, including 3-5 from deep. Jamal Crawford played by far his best game since returning from his calf injury, scoring 17 points on 3-4 from beyond.
Per Basketball Reference, Paul's individual offensive efficiency (the estimated number of points the team would score if he were on the floor for 100 possessions) was an absurd 135. 135! Combine that with the stifling defensive rating of 93 and you have yourself quite the dominant performance, indeed.
Meanwhile, just one Spurs starter had an offensive rating of over 100 (Duncan at 108), while all five starters had defensive ratings of at least 103.
The health of Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter will be crucial in this series for the Spurs, and both were clearly not at 100% last night. Parker got knicked-up a couple of times, rolling over on his ankle in the first period and bruising a thigh later in the game. He was quite ineffective in his 28 minutes of action, contributing just 10 points on 4-11 shooting and not much else.
Splitter was iffy all day before eventually starting the game, though he was only able to play 10 minutes, and wasn't seen after exiting the game with 7:20 left in the third. If he's unable to operate anywhere near peak health, the Spurs are down a crucial rotation big man.
Game two will be Wednesday night at 7:30pm PT.
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