Pounding The Rock - Full coverage: San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Clippers Game 5 For all your Manu Ginobili loving and San Antonio Spurs newshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/12497/ptr-fv.jpg2015-04-29T03:37:07-05:00http://www.poundingtherock.com/rss/stream/82760822015-04-29T03:37:07-05:002015-04-29T03:37:07-05:00Hot-shooting Spurs take 3-2 series lead vs. Clips
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<p>I can't decide if these teams are fantastic or overrated, but they're definitely evenly-matched. </p> <p><b>First round Game 5, at Los Angeles: <a href="https://www.poundingtherock.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Spurs</a> 111, <a href="https://www.clipsnation.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Clippers</a> 107 Series: 3-2. Spurs </b></p>
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<p><span>Manu Ginobili</span> is a man of many interests and skills. In addition to being a competitive loon, a contortionist, a daredevil, a visionary, a prankster and a madman, he's also the Spurs' chief linguist and wordsmith. The thing is, on top of all that Ginobili is also a bit of a math geek, which results, on occasion, in worlds colliding and the Argentine legend filling up reporters' notebooks with quotes about "regression to the mean."</p>
<p>Through four games the Spurs shot 34-of-107 on three-pointers, which works out to 31.8 percent. During the 82-game regular season, they finished fifth in the league, at 36.7 percent. It stood to reason that eventually the percentages would catch up with them and that certain cold individuals such as Ginobili, <span>Danny Green</span>, <span>Boris Diaw</span> and <span>Tony Parker</span> would get hot.</p>
<p>Well, yes and no, as it turned out. Green only made 1-of-5 and Parker missed his only long-ball (and 10-of-15 shots overall) and the red-hot <span>Kawhi Leonard</span> fell back down to Earth. However everyone else in black ripped the nets and the Spurs wound up making 11-of-23 overall (47.8 percent) from downtown, which was by far the biggest reason they found a way to sneak out of the Staples Center with another 111-107 road win. A team that was relatively awful away from the AT&T Center all season long will now get a chance to close out a maddeningly confounding Clippers squad there Thursday night.</p>
<p>That the Spurs won another tight, tense, dramatic game at the wire wasn't surprising. What <i>was</i> shocking however was the how quickly they picked themselves off the mat after falling behind 27-13 ten minutes into the game. Early on, everything that could go wrong, did for the visitors. Parker couldn't get short jumpers to fall and Green was frigid from deep. The transition defense was terrible and <span>Blake Griffin</span> was hitting every mid-range jumper. <span>Gregg Popovich</span> tried to change momentum by inserting his bench into the game, but for some reason <span>Patty Mills</span> was initiating every action, completely getting tied up by <span>Chris Paul</span> and the Spurs kept turning it over. The Clippers were threatening to make it a laugher.</p>
<p>Once Paul went to the bench though, fortunes turned for the Spurs. In desperation, Pop went to a 2-3 zone and the Clippers bench, buoyed by <span>Austin Rivers</span> and <span>Jamal Crawford</span> in Game 4, went cold. The offense started running through Ginobili and Boris Diaw again. Mills was put in the position of being the finisher instead of the play-maker, and he simply couldn't miss. The Spurs went on a 15-0 run to quiet the crowd and from there the game went back and forth the rest of the way, neither team leading by more than a handful.</p>
<p>Unlike Game 4, where nearly everyone that <span>Doc Rivers</span> played produced, this time out the Clippers' "big three" of Griffin, Paul and <span>DeAndre Jordan</span> were stranded by their supporting cast. Not only was their bench terrible, but even <span>J.J. Redick</span>, who gave them 13 points, was poor defensively and wound up fouling out late. The brilliance of Griffin got the Clippers into the locker room with a 54-53 lead, as he had 21 points at half, but they had to get their points two at a time and the strain was starting to show. Though there were a couple of pretty passing sequences like this...</p>
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<p>Marco to Tim to Kawhi. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TicTacToe?src=hash">#TicTacToe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeautifulBasketball?src=hash">#BeautifulBasketball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/wO4TZolLLB">https://t.co/wO4TZolLLB</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593257644711903232">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>and this...</p>
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<p>Manu with an otherworldly pass to Tim for the dunk. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StillManu?src=hash">#StillManu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/BuC3YcERus">https://t.co/BuC3YcERus</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593261316443394049">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>the Spurs were mostly a horror show offensively, with sloppy turnovers and limited ball movement, but their three-point shooting was keeping them in the game.</p>
<p>The Spurs didn't shoot too well in the second half, but at times they whizzed the ball around the way they did against Oklahoma City and Miami last May and June. Fatigue started to hit both teams and mid-range jumpers that were swishing through the nets in the first half were coming up short now. San Antonio's superior depth started making its presence felt, and Pop's decision to employ "Hack-a-Jordan" helped them open up a short-lived cushion.</p>
<p>Yet for every example of "the beautiful game" like this...</p>
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<p>Manu to Duncan to Mills. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/mu3S5oQyGu">https://t.co/mu3S5oQyGu</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593274963542601728">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>or this...</p>
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<p>Mills to Manu to Tim for an excellent fastbreak dunk. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/8hCAlmqANQ">https://t.co/8hCAlmqANQ</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593276490697015297">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>there were silly, costly turnovers by Ginobili, or soft interior defense against Griffin or not enough people making open shots. It was tied after three quarters, with both coaches throwing the kitchen sink at one another and growing exasperated that they couldn't find five competent, effective players to put on the floor.</p>
<p>The game couldn't get any tighter, but slowly but surely it was the Spurs who were applying the noose to their hosts. They were playing at their pace and they had more guys making plays. <span>Marco Belinelli</span> canned a pair of threes at the death of the third quarter and to open the fourth. Green made a pair of long twos to get himself going. Leonard scored six, making all four of his freebies, and had a gorgeous open-floor assist to Diaw for a huge three. Parker started getting into the paint and got a couple of buckets to go, along with this feed to Duncan.</p>
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<p>Boris to Tim to Tony to Tim. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/yrA6QJI4JZ">https://t.co/yrA6QJI4JZ</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593281888137125888">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>Most of all, the fourth quarter belonged to Diaw, who looked slow and sluggish for much of the first half and found himself benched for getting in foul trouble. After an anonymous first 36 minutes, Bobo had eight in the fourth quarter, including the aforementioned corner three. It was this bit of "turning lemons into lemonade," that made you suspect that this was the Spurs night, however.</p>
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<p>Boris saves another possession without even looking at the basket. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/gFzSLE1sya">https://t.co/gFzSLE1sya</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593285754463363074">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>This being the Spurs on the road, a 103-96 lead late was hardly safe. Possessions dried up, the offense stagnated, and even Griffin's 1-of-9 fourth quarter (plus 0-of-2 free throws and three turnovers) wasn't enough to ice the game. Paul was masterful late. When the Spurs paid too much attention to him, he hockey-assisted plays that resulted in easy dunks for Jordan. When they played him straight up, he got an "and-1" layup against Duncan. Green had a couple of jumpers that could've ensured the game, but they both bricked.</p>
<p>Duncan had a huge block on Griffin to save one potential game-tying hoop...</p>
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<p>Duncan with a huge block on Griffin. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spurs?src=hash">#Spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/4bQuPnDG9O">https://t.co/4bQuPnDG9O</a></p>
— J.R. Wilco (@jollyrogerwilco) <a href="https://twitter.com/jollyrogerwilco/status/593287491899228160">April 29, 2015</a>
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<p>but still the Clippers trailed by just one and had the ball with seven seconds to left. With Leonard tying up Paul, Griffin tried a quick hitter in the lane over a contesting Duncan. The ball looked like it was about to trickle just out, but Jordan tipped it in while it was still above the cylinder. The refs rightly waved it off, and the Spurs held on once more, by the slimmest of margins.</p>
<p>After being obliterated by Griffin for six straight quarters, the regression to the mean bit the Clippers springy All-Star, as he finished 3-of-15 in the second half, missing several point-blank looks. L.A. wound up shooting worse on uncontested jumpers (8-of-29, 27.6 percent) than contested ones (32-of-57, 56.1 percent). San Antonio's best defense turned out to be packing the paint and leaving people the hell alone.</p>
<p>Good luck figuring this series out. The Clippers have three great players, one of whom is an offensive liability. No one for the Spurs is playing that well except for Duncan and Leonard. Tiago Splitter is an injured mess, Ginobili is too turnover-prone to be trusted for long stretches, Green can't make anything and Parker is gamely trying to play on with a broken everything. Patty Mills is their hottest shooter right now, and he made like 13 shots all season. It's two teams trying to kill each other for the right to get ground into a fine paste by the <a href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Warriors</a>, which makes it sound like a pointless exercise, yet it's the most compelling thing in sports at the moment.</p>
<p>On to Game 6 and only one real question is left to be answered.</p>
<p>Will the Spurs regress, or will they get mean?</p>
<p><b>Your Three Stars: </b></p>
<p><b>3. Manu Ginobili (5 pts)</b></p>
<p><b>2. Boris Diaw (3 pts)</b></p>
<p><b>1. <span>Tim Duncan</span> (13 pts)</b></p>
<p><b>[Players receive 5 points for first star, 3 points for second star and 1 point for third star. Numbers in parentheses are their accumulated totals for the postseason.]</b></p>
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/29/8512787/hot-shooting-spurs-steal-game-5-to-take-3-2-series-lead-againstMichael Erler2015-04-29T01:00:24-05:002015-04-29T01:00:24-05:00Spurs win in LA again, 111-107
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<p>The fifth game of the San Antonio vs Los Angeles series was almost beyond description. Spurs savvy their way to another road win.</p>
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<p>For the second time in as many games in L.A. the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.poundingtherock.com/">Spurs</a> win a tough game against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.clipsnation.com/">Clippers</a> by the score of 111-107. Here's the down-and-dirty details on San Antonio's third win of the series. Just so you know, it didn't start well, but the ending was sweet as candy.</p>
<p><b>First half</b></p>
<p>Danny cold. Tony cold. Even Duncan cold before a layup. Clips fast break unstoppable. LA's defense is swarming and the starters can't score. 14-0 run. This could be a blowout. Went to a zone. The bench is rolling. Playoff Patty Mills with a four point play. 22-3 run. Threes keeping them in it. Bonner fouling and shooting. SA has no business being in the game, but only down one at halftime.</p>
<p><b>Third quarter</b></p>
<p>So many rim outs. Quarter extended by Hack a Jordan and the Spurs being in the bonus halfway through the quarter. Tied game.</p>
<p><b>Fourth quarter</b><br><br>Kawhi tip in after a couple of O Rebs. Chris Paul tech. PIVOTAL stretch from 448 to 335.</p>
<p>Spurs bailed out by Boris at the end of the 24 second clock, not once but twice.</p>
<p>Crazy calls both ways. Spurs can't make that one more play to put the game away.</p>
<p>And then that crazy ending. With 1:01 to go, Duncan had a clean-as-the-driven-snow block of Griffin and as Blake recovered himself, Boris stole the ball from Griffin. LA has the ball down one, Griffin's floater misses and Jordan's called for basket interference. Danny at the line to put the game away with 4 seconds to go and Kawhi gets the biggest rebound of the game off Green's miss of his 2nd free throw.</p>
<p>Spurs win by 4.</p>
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/29/8512621/playoffs-spurs-outlast-clippers-111-107-game-fiveJ.R. Wilco2015-04-28T22:35:02-05:002015-04-28T22:35:02-05:00Second Half GameThread for Spurs/Clippers Game 5
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https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/28/8509511/second-half-gamethread-for-spurs-clippers-game-5Chris Itz2015-04-28T15:00:02-05:002015-04-28T15:00:02-05:00What the Spurs need to do to win Game 5
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<p>The Spurs proved they can beat the Clippers playing like they have so far but these adjustments could be worth trying. </p>
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<p>Game 4 came down to a handful of plays. Fouls on <span>Chris Paul</span>. Consecutive empty trips to the line by Duncan and Parker. Ginobili fouling Crawford during a shot that went in. <span>Patty Mills</span> saving the ball under his own basket only to give the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.clipsnation.com/">Clippers</a> a new possession. Those <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.poundingtherock.com/">Spurs</a> mistakes combined with the Clippers excellent shot making ability made it impossible for San Antonio to string enough stops together or get enough points on the board to close the game late.</p>
<p>It's very tempting -- and not entirely untrue -- to simply say that the Spurs need to be smarter and hit some fouls shots and they could easily win Game 5. Yet the information we have after four full games and an overtime period suggest there are some small adjustment the Spurs could make to give themselves a better shot by either improving their offense or limiting the Clippers'.</p>
<h3>Only intentionally foul Jordan in specific instances</h3>
<p>Intentionally fouling Jordan has not yielded great results. Even when he's missed the Spurs have not been able to capitalize on the other end. That doesn't mean they should stop doing it altogether, specially now that <span>Doc Rivers</span> has started to sit him in those instances. What they need to do is be smart about when to do it.</p>
<p>In Game 4, the Spurs had one foul to give. Pop sent in <span>Matt Bonner</span>, who immediately fouled Jordan. Rivers subbed him out and the Clippers found themselves in the bonus with over six minutes to go. Worse yet, Chris Paul was on the bench at that time. It's true that the numbers say the Clippers' offense is better without Paul on a tiny sample size and Rivers and Crawford were killing the Spurs up until that point. You should still take your chances trying to stop them in the few minutes their best player isn't on the court.</p>
<p>If the Spurs are going to intentionally foul Jordan, they need to do it at the end of quarters to gain and extra possession or when they are already in the bonus early. <span>Glen Davis</span> has been good in limited minutes but could get exposed on a slightly bigger role, which means getting Jordan off the court could pay dividends. The strategy can work on certain circumstances. The Spurs just need to figure out which those are and only use it then.</p>
<h3>Trap the high double screens</h3>
<p>The Clippers love to set two screens very high on the floor for Chris Paul and occasionally <span>Jamal Crawford</span>.</p>
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<p>If the defender gets caught, the Spurs have to switch with Paul having a full head of steam on the big. He usually uses a few dribbles to create space and launches an elbow jumper. Because this happens early in possessions it's also possible for the Clippers to find Griffin defended by a guard on a mismatch.</p>
<p>It's shocking how effective that play is. The Spurs by now know it's coming and the defender still gets caught by the screen a lot. The Clippers have been doing it all season and are great at it. That's why mixing things up and trapping Paul before the screen is set to get the ball out of his hands once in a while might be a good option. The Spurs actually tried it out when they were desperate at the end of Game 4.</p>
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<p>It's far from a perfect solution. The big man trapping will have to be Griffin's defender and Blake is arguably the best ball handler and passer at his position in the league. He's equipped to put the ball on the floor and hurt teams that give him space. If Leonard is on the court, however, he can cover enough space to cut Griffin off and get back to his man. If Barnes is also on the court, the Spurs could pack the paint and hope he misses.</p>
<p>Trapping the high double screen is not something the Spurs should do often but it should be an option to have in their back pocket if the play is causing as much damage as it has so far.</p>
<h3>Give Bonner some minutes alongside Splitter</h3>
<p>Asking for playing time for Matt Bonner screams "desperation move" but it could make sense for a handful of minutes next to <span>Tiago Splitter</span> to prop up the offense. With Splitter on the floor the defense is superb. Even when he doesn't share the floor with Duncan the Clippers score way below their average in points per possession. The problem is the offense dies. With Splitter on the floor the Spurs have scored 88 points per possession while their average in this series is 105.</p>
<p>The Diaw-Splitter duo was great on the regular season but it hasn't clicked in the playoffs. Diaw's reluctance to shoot three-pointers and his inability to make the few he takes hurts the spacing. Splitter is not as good as Duncan at navigating through traffic so he's ineffective. With Bonner next to him, the Spurs could kill the Clippers with pick and rolls, as the threat of Bonner's outside shooting would make it hard to pack the paint. Griffin will certainly go at Bonner in the post but if the help defense is on time, he shouldn't make too much damage and the Spurs switch most pick and rolls involving Griffin anyway.</p>
<p>If he misses some three-pointers or his presence hurts the defense and rebounding more than it helps the offense the Spurs can stop the experiment. But giving it a shot is worth it, especially considering Baynes is out of the rotation.</p>
<p>* * * * *</p>
<p>The Spurs have played well so far, considering the quality of their opponent. Their work on the glass has been stellar, their defense has been able to contain a potent offense and they are figuring out how to attack the Clippers' aggressive pick and roll defense. The way they are playing is working, yet they are tied and need to win one game on the road. In such a close series small adjustments matter.</p>
<p>Fine tuning the ways they are using intentional fouling, mixing up their pick and roll coverage and finding units that work on both ends could be the difference between a win and a loss. If anyone knows that it's Pop, so don't be surprised to see some new wrinkles in the Spurs' game plan going forward.</p>
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/28/8508875/spurs-clippers-game-5-adjustmentsJeje Gomez2015-04-28T13:46:15-05:002015-04-28T13:46:15-05:00Aggression is the key to the series
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<p>After four games of San Antonio and Los Angeles, it's becoming clear that the stars who are able to enforce their will on the game will be the ones who progress to the second round. </p>
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<p>It's the fourth installment of my conversation with the editor of <a href="http://www.clipsnation.com" target="_blank">Clips Nation</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/clippersteve">Steve Perrin</a>. If you missed any of the previous installments, you can catch up here: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/18/8451275/spurs-clippers-intentionally-foul-deandre-jordan">One</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/21/8461095/how-sustainable-is-the-defense-the-clippers-used-on-the-spurs">Two</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/24/8490887/spurs-vs-clippers-series-adjustments-defense-hack">Three</a>.</p>
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https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/28/8508989/nba-playoffs-spurs-clippers-chris-paul-kawhi-leonardJ.R. Wilco2015-04-28T02:00:02-05:002015-04-28T02:00:02-05:00Game 5 Preview: Spurs at Clippers
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<p>With the series even at two apiece, the Spurs will have to steal another game on the road if they're to advance. The decisive Game 5 is tonight. </p> <div style="background-image: url(http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/836193/spurs-background.jpg); height: 300px; border-top-left-radius: 15px; border-top-right-radius: 15px; border-bottom-right-radius: 15px; border-bottom-left-radius: 15px; background-position: 50% -40px;" id="preview-wrapper">
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<h3><b><a href="https://www.poundingtherock.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">San Antonio Spurs</a> @ <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.clipsnation.com/">Los Angeles Clippers</a></b></h3>
Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA<br>April 28, 2015, 9:30 PM Spurs Time<br>TV: TNT - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI</div>
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<p>For all you hear that good basketball boils down to the basics -- the idea that if you do the little things right, everything else will fall into place -- it can be damn complicated, too.</p>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3608425/mustreads.css">
<p>The Spurs went into Game 4 with a proven gameplan and did a lot of things right: they gave up just six offensive boards, got back on transition D, and guarded the three-point line as well as they could've.</p>
<p>Unfortunately San Antonio's players lacked the discipline needed to put it all together. Free throws have been an ongoing problem this series (they left another 10 points on the floor Sunday afternoon), but it was a comedy of mental errors and missed three-pointers that led to their undoing and the missed opportunity of heading back to LA with the chance to put the series away.</p>
<p>The Clippers showed no signs of fatigue after an anemic performance in Game 3, and they got an added boost from their maligned reserve unit. <span>Doc Rivers</span> really only played eight guys (Hedo was on the floor for just one minute), but it's all he needed: Big Baby shoved his weight around; <span>Jamal Crawford</span> made Jamal Crawford-type shots, and <span>Austin Rivers</span> evolved into a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NOcRIHiRtc" target="_blank">Re-Animator</a> hybrid of <span>Brandon Roy</span> and <span>Sam Cassell</span>, bullying smaller guards (well, <span>Patty Mills</span> mostly) on his way to 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting.</p>
<p>Add to that the fact that Chris Paul put on a mid-range clinic and turned fishing for fouls in the backcourt into some sort of sick game (Clips fans might see it as a karmic counter to Pop's Hack-a-DJ) and you get a result that felt much like the blow Blake Griffin took to the lower body from Manu Ginobili. Like Griffin, San Antonio must now take a few breaths, collect itself and soldier on.</p>
<p>Tonight's not quite a can't-lose game -- more of a please-please-win -- and it'll take a sense of urgency that was absent until the last minutes of Game 4 to pull out the W.</p>
<p>The Clippers still can't rotate well defensively, and it leaves the Spurs in an interesting tactical position given Kawhi's sustained moon leap in offensive play. On the one hand, ball movement will almost certainly find an open man; on the other, that open man has not hit on as many shots as he should, while Whi has been so lethal in his own surgical, self-contained attack. Trying to strike that balance is one of the things that makes this year's team different from last year's.</p>
<p>With a series as close as this one, either team can come away with the win tonight. I still like the Spurs to advance, but I'm leaning towards an L tonight and them doing it in seven. I'd prefer to be wrong on the last point.</p>
<p>Matchup to watch: The shooting guard position. Getting very little out of Danny Green and <span>Manu Ginobili</span> makes my eyes rain. Green's now turned in two horrible shooting nights (0 for 6 and 1 for 7 from three), which just so happen to have corresponded with the two Spurs losses. Meanwhile Manu has been as erratic as ever. When the production is as lopsided as it was compared to what J.J. Redick and Crawford did in Game 4, LA's lack of depth becomes less of an issue.</p>
<table class="sbnu-legacy-content-table" align="center" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5">
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<tr>
<th colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="silver">Game 5, Western Conference 1st Round, 2015 <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba-playoffs">NBA Playoffs</a> </th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="240"><center><img style="width: 120px; height: 76px;" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.element/img/2.0/sect/gameinfo/teamlogos/SAS.gif"></center></td>
<th align="center" width="20">@</th>
<td width="240"><center><img style="width: 120px; height: 76px;" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.element/img/2.0/sect/gameinfo/teamlogos/lac.gif"></center></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="240">
<center>Regular Season: 55-27 (22-19 road)</center> <center>Playoffs: 2-2 (1-1 away)</center>
</td>
<th align="center" width="20"><br></th>
<td width="240">
<center>Regular Season: 56-26 (30-11 home)</center> <center>Playoffs: 2-2 (1-1 home)</center>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="silver"><b>April 28, 2015</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center"><b>Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA</b></td>
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<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center"><b>9:30 pm CST</b></td>
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<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="center"><b>TV: TNT - Radio: 1200 WOAI</b></td>
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<th colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="silver"><b>Starters</b></th>
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<tr>
<td align="right" width="240"><span>Tony Parker</span></td>
<th align="center" width="20">PG</th>
<td width="240"><span>Chris Paul</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240"><span>Danny Green</span></td>
<th align="center" width="20">SG</th>
<td width="240"><span>J.J. Redick</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240"><span>Kawhi Leonard</span></td>
<th align="center" width="20">SF</th>
<td width="240"><span>Matt Barnes</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240"><span>Tiago Splitter</span></td>
<th align="center" width="20">PF</th>
<td width="240"><span>Blake Griffin</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240"><span>Tim Duncan</span></td>
<th align="center" width="20">C</th>
<td width="240"><span>DeAndre Jordan</span></td>
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<th colspan="3" align="center" bgcolor="silver"><b>Advanced Stats</b></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240">93.8 (17th)</td>
<th align="center" width="20">Pace</th>
<td width="240">94.7 (10th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240">108.5 (7th)</td>
<th align="center" width="20">ORtg</th>
<td width="240">112.4 (1st)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right" width="240">102.4 (2nd)</td>
<th align="center" width="20">DRtg</th>
<td width="240">105.5 (15th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th colspan="3" bgcolor="silver" height="20"></th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p> </p>
<p>The perspective of Clippers fans can be found here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.clipsnation.com">Clips Nation</a>.</p>
<p>Game Prediction: Clippers by 6.</p>
<p>As always <a style="background-color: #ffffff;" title="In a completely understandable mistake, CapHill, while creating a Game Preview, used a prior preview for a Lakers game as a template, and neglected to delete all of the previous player specific details. As a result, the preview read that one of the keys to the game was 'Tony Parker needs to dominate [Derek] Fisher' in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Cap has since embraced this particular gaffe, but it's original glory can no longer be seen since Tim C. gallantly edited the page. So all that remains are our references to it." href="http://www.poundingtherock.com/pages/ptr-lexicon#tonydominatefisher" target="_blank">Tony must dominate Fisher</a>, and you can get your San Antonio Spurs tickets from Daniel Farias with Spurs Sports & Entertainment:</p>
<p>Tel: 210-444-5607 | dfarias@attcenter.com</p>
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2015/4/28/8503569/game-5-preview-san-antonio-spurs-at-los-angeles-clippersBrunoPassos