The Spurs ride another stellar second half to put away the Clippers

The Spurs ride another stellar second half to put away the Clippers

The Spurs ride another stellar second half to put away the Clippers
NBA

The Spurs ride another stellar second half to put away the Clippers

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For the second game in a row, the Spurs came out strong after halftime, combining unselfish play and hot shooting from deep to take down the Clippers.

Following their 120-107 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, a round of applause could be heard escaping from the Spurs locker room. It could’ve been celebrating the 33 assists (a season-high) they collected as the ball moved around with purpose, stretching their opponents’ ranks. Or maybe it was for their dominant third-quarter performance, in which they outscored LA, 40-21. Either way, it’s the kind of showing the team, now on a three-game winning streak, will be happy to build on in the coming weeks.

Appearing moments later, Gregg Popovich lauded the ball movement, pace, and the team’s ability to get more guys involved. That balance certainly showed in the box score.

In its losses, the team has struggled to find another player to complement LaMarcus Aldridge’s offensive production. On Tuesday, four Spurs had between 19 and 25 points, including Danny Green (24), Rudy Gay (22), and Pau Gasol (19). Aldridge once again led the way, but with the floor spaced better and the ball zipping around, he wasn’t dealing with his usual dose of double teams and physicality.

The offense regularly made the right reads, whether it was finding cutters or through skip passes, consistently exposing the Clippers’ poor rotations. And, as Pop noted, not missing helped, too:

“Making shots does make things simpler... (that) has been a problem for us in some games. We’ve got some guys that are shooting very poorly compared to their history. Tonight they shot the way they’ve shot for most of their careers.”

Once again Pau Gasol’s fingerprints were all over the place, scoring or assisting on 32 Spurs points while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Everything he brought to the table, whether it was pulling DeAndre Jordan away from the rim or keeping the offense well-oiled with his passing, was essential to the Spurs’ gameplan.

With the team still down its third big man in Joffrey Lauvergne, Gasol and Aldridge are sharing the floor less time than ever before. Against one of the league’s most talented frontcourts, that could’ve been a problem, but San Antonio’s small-ball lineups did a great job of limiting Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan’s impact in the paint and on the glass, with everyone from Kyle Anderson to Patty Mills getting in the mix.

Was it their best win of the season thus far? Pop wasn’t ready to say:

“Our defense still has to get better — and it’ll take some time with the new guys, and the combinations that are out there right now.”

The defense should indeed come around, and it’ll continue to be where this team hangs its hat on a nightly basis. If that coincides with better health and more offensive displays like tonight’s, the Spurs will have more cause for applause as the season unfolds.