The L.A. Clippers (9-5) capped off the homestand 5-1 with a 106-92 win over the San Antonio Spurs (4-10) Tuesday night. Six first-half turnovers aside, Paul George coasted to 34 points (10-24 FG, 12-13 FT), nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. A definition of a “shooters shoot” game, Reggie Jackson kept at it all-game long to add 21 points (8-22 FG, 5-17 3PT), six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Dejounte Murray was one of the lone bright spots for San Antonio, putting up 26 points (12-21 FG, 1-2 3PT), 12 rebounds, nine assists and three steals in a game-high 38 minutes. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Spurs game recap.
Summary
After coughing up the ball 10 times to open up the game against Chicago, the Clippers didn’t do a great job in that department with six turnovers to start tonight. Fortunately, that didn’t amount to much just yet here for the mid-range loving Spurs. It was a throwback quarter as both sides took a ton of long twos while combining for just two made threes in the 12 minutes. Aside from the poor outside shooting, both teams shot it relatively efficiently inside the arc. Paul George quickly established himself as the best player on the court, Reggie Jackson could not buy a triple despite hunting for it, and Luke Kennard and Amir Coffey were the first subs off the bench. The main difference was the Clipper bigs easily outplaying Drew Eubanks and Thaddeus Young, the latter of which just looked absolutely unplayable. Through one, the Clippers held a 25-20 lead.
Punches in the putback.
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 17, 2021@BallySportWest | @IvicaZubac pic.twitter.com/FZKtFFczmL
Despite taking their largest lead of the game thus far at 12, the Clippers were soon rebuked by the Spurs 33-32 in the second as the careless turnovers and subsequent San Antonio fast-break points began to pile up. Despite the game inching near blowout territory off of weak interior defense by San Antonio, there were simply too many transition buckets conceded that gave the Spurs’ youngsters life. The three-point shooting didn’t get much better for either side, but George and Dejounte Murray still managed to put on a show in the frame with 15 points apiece for their respective squads. At the break, the Clippers led just 57-53.
.@yg_trece in attack mode.
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 17, 2021@BallySportWest | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/LOl8wgVrNk
With the Clippers still sleepwalking, the Spurs opened up the third on an 8-2 run to take a brief two-point lead, before taking a three-point advantage at the 6:46 mark. With the game in the balance, both teams mostly traded misses and turnovers before a Coffey three and a Boston middy gave the Clippers a breath of separation once again. From there, with Murray on the bench, the Spurs just could not make a shot as the Clippers’ energy began to pick back up again thanks to Reggie — headband freshly re-tightened —regaining his flow. In the last 1:37, Jackson had a stepback corner 3 in front of the Spurs bench, a block and coast-to-coast lob to Isaiah Hartenstein, a free-throw line floater, and a straight-line layup to have LAC feeling good up 83-71 heading to the fourth.
OH MY @Ipjh55
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 17, 2021@BallySportWest | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/F8lm9wm71N
Clippers fans couldn’t help but feel like the final frame would be good when Brandon Boston Jr. opened it up nailing a three. Ultimately, however, LAC didn’t really have to do anything special to bring this one home. The Spurs got it down to as much as nine but were immediately answered right back by a pair of Jackson threes that decided to go in. As such, with there not being any real threat of the Spurs miraculously splashing in threes in the final minute, George, Jackson and Zubac all got an early curtain call as the Clippers got back in the win column.
Back-to-back threes!
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 17, 2021@BallySportWest | @Reggie_Jackson pic.twitter.com/bzmlkpn0Zo
Clippers vs. Spurs Game Notes
- Batum Break: Nicolas Batum was limited to 14 minutes tonight, playing just the opening shifts of the first and third quarters. Not much of a heads up was given pre-game about the whole ordeal, but according to Brian Sieman in the early moments of the second half, Batum was reportedly on a minutes restriction tonight to get over some everyday “bumps and bruises” that come with the NBA season. This was later confirmed by Tyronn Lue postgame.
- Bench Mob: While Luke Kennard and Isaiah Hartenstein were great once again off the bench, some real praise has to go to Amir Coffey and Brandon Boston Jr. tonight. The two wings not only stepped in for a rotation in major need of some depth, but flourished as well. Coffey’s stat line might not jump off the page, but he made consistently made the right plays on both ends, and kept the defense honest with his ability to score from all three levels. Boston Jr. was once again a ton of fun to watch again, playing with a level of confidence and swagger that you just can’t help but get excited about.
- PG13 FTA: Paul George somehow took six more free throws than the entire Spurs lineup tonight. Other than the aforementioned turnovers, and 2-for-11 shooting from the field in the second half, there was not much more you could ask for tonight from PG. It was also really good, however, to see the rest of the guys come alive to bring this one home after the halftime break. Especially early on, it was looking like this one was going back to the early days of the season, in which a classic PG-carry performance would have been required.
- Mistakes Were Made: Gregg Popovich mentioned before tip-off that basketball is a “game of mistakes,” and that if there were no mistakes, “it’d be boring.” Well, with 23 fast break points surrendered off of 22 head-scratching turnovers, the Clippers certainly didn’t play like a team that would end up winning by double-digits. Fortunately, LAC were able to cut down San Antonio’s points in transition to just five in the second half, but this is something that simply won’t fly next game.
- Up Next: On the front end of a back-to-back, the Clippers will visit the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on Thursday, Nov. 18, at 5 p.m. PT.
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