The hits just keep on coming for Tony Parker. No sooner does he get past the Clippers and All-Star point guard Chris Paul than up pops the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook blocking his path.
Never mind three-time NBA leading scorer Kevin Durant. After the Spurs finished a long practice Wednesday ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, Parker said the key to keep moving ahead is slowing down Westbrook.
“He’s more aggressive. Chris is more looking to get his teammates involved. Westbrook is going to take a lot of shots. He’s going to be super-aggressive. It’s going to be one of the keys, trying to contain him.
“He’s definitely the head of the snake on this team. He gets them going. Durant is obviously the best scorer in this league, but I think Westbrook is the one who makes them go.”
HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Before we let the Clippers slip away into the shadows of teams vanquished on the road to the Larry O’Brien trophy, we have to slather a little praise on the “other” team in Los Angeles for a season full of entertaining basketball, complete with enough Chris Paul and Blake Griffin highlights to last a couple of seasons.
We’d also like to back the critics off of Griffin and his game, which is a whopping 159 games old with this playoff run included. That’s right, Griffin is just two seasons of actual on-court time into his career that has been scrutinized incessantly since he burst onto the scene as dunking machine/pitchman last season.
I saw the Inside crew discussing Griffin’s game (Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaq and Ernie Johnson go at it above) and felt the instant analysis of his long-term prospects was a bit premature. Shaq and Ernie have it right that it’s far too soon to assume we’ve seen the very best Griffin will have to offer during his career.
(Andrew Bynum‘s been in the league for seven years and people are still talking about him being a young player … and this is supposed to be it for Griffin?)
This was Griffin’s first playoff rodeo folks. Why would anyone assume he’s reached his zenith, that he won’t continue to improve in the coming seasons?
LOS ANGELES – Don’t come around Chris Paul’s front door trying to sell him a ladder. He’s not one of those who believe that progress has to come one level at a time.
The Clippers finished a season in which they won a playoff series for only the third time in franchise history, but that didn’t leave the All-Star point guard skipping out the door.
“We had a good season,” Paul said. “I think it’s a good sign for our team that there is no moral victory. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we made it to the playoffs, it’s all good and well.’ We feel like we should still have been playing.
“We are going to keep working. We are going to come back next seson ready to go. I have never been one of those people who believes you have to take stepping stones to get to the next level.”
LOS ANGELES – When somebody asked him to explain his reasoning for deliberately fouling Reggie Evans in the fourth quarter of Game 3 on Saturday, a puzzled look crossed the face of Gregg Popovich,
“Because he’s not a good free throw shooter,” said the Spurs’ coach.
When the chuckling in the room finally stopped, Popovich went on.
“Look, I’m not trying to be a wise guy,” he said. “I just don’t know what else to tell you. We weren’t going to foul Chris Paul. I’m sorry to be a wise guy, but I fouled him for a reason. It’s not pretty. Basically, it’s ugly, but it’s part of the game. My job is to win.”
Nobody can argue with the winning part. With four NBA titles already in his pocket, Popovich will push his Spurs for their 18th consecutive win and their second straight series sweep in the 2012 playoffs tonight when they try to close out the Clippers.
While this has certainly been the spring of Tim Duncan’s resurgence, Tony Parker’s blossoming and the continued frantic stylings of Manu Ginobili, Popovich has left nothing to chance. In addition to repeatedly sending an opponent to the foul line who treats free throws as if they were trying to shoot basketballs through the eye of a needle, Popovich was also thinking about his veteran players who have to return to the court today for a back-to-back. By playing Sledge-a-Reggie, Popovich was slowing down the game and giving the likes of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili a chance to ease up on the wear and tear.
LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul was running and dishing. Blake Griffin was jumping and slamming. Clipper Nation was screaming and believing.
The Spurs were just playing.
When the home team ran out to a brunch-time 40-16 lead and had the boys from San Antonio wearing huevos rancheros on their faces, some even began to wonder if head coach Gregg Popovich would pull his starters at halftime and save them for Part II of the back-to-back on Sunday.
If nothing else, it looked like the Clippers would finally earn a measure of respect in the series.
But that’s the problem. The Spurs make you earn everything. They don’t panic. They don’t roll over. They just keep coming.
LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul has a sore groin and strained right hip. Blake Griffin has a left hip injury to go with his sprained right knee. Caron Butler has a fractured left hand.
If the Clippers get any more broken down, a tow truck might appear out of a Staples Center tunnel to haul them off the floor. That could happen anyway if they don’t somehow find a way to quickly put the drive back into their game.
The Clippers are being outworked, outplayed, outhustled and simply outclassed by a Spurs team that is sharper than a razor’s edge and has sliced its way to 16 consecutive wins.
It is no longer a question of whether L.A. can win this conference semifinal series, but if the Clippers can earn a measure of respect by winning just one game.
“No excuses,” says Paul.
Give the Clippers credit. At least they’re not whining like the Heat. At this time of the year everybody is bruised, battered and aching and being able to deal with injuries and persevere is as much a part of making a title run as making baskets.
Look at the Spurs, who lost one of their Big Three – Manu Ginobili – a week into the regular season with a broken hand that eventually forced him to miss 32 games. They soldiered on to tie Chicago for the best overall record in the league.
Now it’s the Clippers who have to do whatever it takes with two games on their home court in less than 36 hours to show they are more than just a “Lob City” slogan on the front of a T-shirt. Dinged up or not, Paul has to post a lot more than the 16 total points he scored in Games 1 and 2 and a lot less than the 18 turnovers. Hobbled or not, Griffin can’t have another game where he plays nearly 37 minute as he did in Game 2 and manages to bump into just one rebound. That’s how you lose by 17 points in one game and 16 in another.
“We’re not going into these next two games thinking, ‘Let’s try to keep it close,’ ” Griffin said. “There’s no moral victories and moral losses here.”
There is respect and that’s what’s left for the Clippers.
SAN ANTONIO – Another night, another beat-down for Chris Paul.
If the Lob City Clippers are going to get up off the floor to be even mildly competitive against the Spurs, first someone is going to have to sweep up the shattered pieces of their All-Star point guard.
In Game 2, Paul scored just 10 points and handed out only five assists. But more significant was his eight turnovers, the most in a game in his career.
“Just bad decisions,” Paul said. “I have to make better passes. They are shrinking the court and basically just packing it in.”
SAN ANTONIO – When the practice session was over, guard Nick Young headed straight to the dentist for a root canal.
His Clipper teammate Chris Paul came out of the video review of Game 1 feeling like he’d already had one, minus the Novocain.
“We have to limit the turnovers and me personally make a few shots,” Paul said, having connected on just 3-of-13 from the field and scored only six points in the series opener. “Out of 16 turnovers, I had five of them.”
Paul didn’t blame the Clippers shortcomings in the 108-92 loss on anyone but himself and said his nagging groin injury was not a reason.
“We played hard last night, but we didn’t play effective,” he said. “It’s probably me. I didn’t play effective, so I’ve got to come out and have a better game.
“Just plays I wish I could have back. One of them was a travel in the lane. I felt like the ball slipped out of my hand. I threw a bad pass to Reggie (Evans) when I got in the air. I probably should have shot it. I threw a bad pass to Bled (Eric Bledsoe) between his legs. I remember all of them.”
SAN ANTONIO – Caron Butler will lineup against the Spurs in the opening Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals tonight.
But there was a time — maybe an hour — last December when it seemed likely that Butler was going to join the Spurs.
“As a free agent, I was extremely close to coming here,” Butler said. “This is a great franchise, a great city. I cancelled my flight (to San Antonio) and then I had to buy another one. It was really close.
“It was a great situation for me in L.A., even before the Chris Paul situation. It was a great for me to get a lot of playing time and for me to get back out there playing. I didn’t know what my role would be coming here to this organization. But I knew that I would have a role in their system. I was eager to be a part of that transition of making the Clippers a respectable organization.”
Ultimately, Butler chose the Clippers for 24 million reasons, the number of guaranteed dollars in his three-year contract, more than San Antonio’s offer. But not before he’d visited the Spurs and been impressed by coach Gregg Popovich.
SAN ANTONIO – So they meet again. A week after wrapping up their own spot in the conference semifinals, the Spurs finally know who their opponent will be.
Oh yes, they’re quite familiar with Chris Paul in the playoffs.
“He’s a future Hall of Famer,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
“He’s one of those guys, you know he’s not going to give up,” said Manu Ginobili.
Back in 2008, Paul was a singular force who virtually willed the Hornets to extend a conference semifinal series against the Spurs to seven games. Now he has lit a fire under the traditionally-moribund Clippers, lifting them to only their second playoff series win since moving to the West Coast more than three decades ago. Paul led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds in the decisive Game 7 win over Memphis that sends L.A. immediately into the next round against the No. 1 seeded team in the West that is on a 14-game winning streak.
