LA Clippers defeat the defending champion Spurs in 7 game epic series before losing heartbreak 7 game series to Houston- May, 2015
The LA Clippers took on the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs in what turned out to be one of the closest and exciting series especially for the opening round. The matchup didn’t seem fair to either team as they both came into the playoffs red hot. Both teams had match-up issues for the other and the Clippers got off to a great start in Game 1 running away with Game one at home 107-92 as Chris Paul had 32 points & 7 assists and Blake Griffin finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Jamal Crawford added 17 off the bench and they pretty much led the whole game after a fast start. The Clippers shot 51% while the Spurs show 37% for the game. Blake was amazing and he ran the pick and roll with Paul quite often as there were quite a few dunks and spectacular finishes. Kawhi Leonard (who was voted Defensive player of the year) led the visitors with 18 points while Marco Belinelli and Patti Mills shot well off their deep bench. This #3 vs #6 seeding didn’t seem fair especially to Coach Popovich, whose team lost on the last day of the regular season and dropped from the second seed to the sixth. He also said he didn’t like that Portland received an automatic #4 sees even though they had the 6th best record. The Western Conference is loaded this year and as commentator Reggie Miller has said, this is the most unpredictable playoffs ever.
It was time to make some changes which Popovich is a master at so game two was quite the change for Game 2. The switched up match-ups and gave the Clippers new looks on defense to try to contain Paul and Griffin, who ended up with 21 and 29 respectively. Blake ended with a triple double and De’Andre Jordan was a monster inside with 20 points and 15 rebounds but the rest of the team didn’t shoot well. Redick had Leonard guarding him quite a bit and went 4-13 while Matt Barnes was 1-10 and Crawford was 4-13. Pop also went into the hack a Jordan as he went 6-17 in free throws while it stalled fast breaks and slowed the game down. Griffin put the blame on himself despite his incredible night as he turned the ball over with about 10 seconds to go and up by 2 points which led to Mills driving to the basket and getting fouled by Paul. He made both free throws that sent the game into overtime, when the Spurs were too tough.
The Spurs were clicking on all cylinders except for Tony Parker who was 0-6 and ended with one point. However, old dependable Tim Duncan came up big with clutch shots down the stretch and ended with 28 points and 11 rebounds while Leonard, Mills and Diaw also had big games to give them a 111-107 win on the road. Now the series headed back to Texas for games 3 and 4 where the Spurs blew them out in game 3. Game 4 the Clippers came up with a huge, much-needed win 114-105 to even the series at 2-2 and back for game 5 in LA
Game 5 back in LA after the big win. Another close match-up and the Clippers thought they had a game-winning tip in but De’Andre Jordan was called for offensive interference (a good call after the replays showed the ball still on the rim) gave the Spurs a 111-107 victory after free throws sealed the win. The tip in would have given the home team a lead with 5 seconds left. Coach Rivers said it was frustrating as his team had some very good chances but things didn’t go there way. He was still not sure about the technical foul called against him late in the game. There was a wild shot that Diaw hit beating the shot clock, many missed free throws, some bad possessions including a hurried three point attempt to try to tie the game instead of trying for a better shot. Rivers said his team played hard but just couldn’t get any luck including any of the loose balls or 50-50 balls as many like to call it.
Griffin once again led them with 30 points and 14 rebounds, Jordan had 21 points and 14 rebounds going 7-16 on free throws, Paul ending with 19 points and 10 assists and JJ Redick adding 13 points. Crawford was cold going 4-16. The Spurs were very well-balanced getting 6 players in double figures and two others scoring 8 and 9. Mr. Duncan led the way again with 21 points and 11 rebounds. One of the big keys in this game was San Antonio going 11-23 on three point shots (Mills going 4-4 and Belinelli going 2-2), while LA was 1-14 and that is not going to get it done. Blake summed it up afterward saying the series is not over and the team has to go win game 6 on the road now.
Well that is what they did after Paul started the game 0-8 but finished with 19 points and 15 assists as he took over in the second half while Leonard was ice cold going 3-15 for the Spurs. The Clippers won 102-96 to force a final game.
Game 7- WOW, what a game. The electricity was in the building as the Clippers were playing a second straight year in game 7 at home last year beating the Warriors. This ended up being one an epic game that went down to the wire. With their leader Chris Paul straining his hamstring in the first quarter, he came through with his biggest shot of his career driving down the right side and lofting a running bank shot winner over 2 defenders (remember on a bad hamstring) with one second left in the game as the crowd went wild. Barnes saved it from going overtime as he batted away a lob pass intended to Leonard to tip it in and bedlam took place. This topped the game 7 of the year before, which I didn’t think was possible as it was a back and forth game with 31 lead changes and 16 ties. Los Angeles came back down 97-92 and Griffin had another triple double while Paul ended with 27 points (5-6 on three point shots and 6 assists. The team went 14-27 on three point shots with Barnes, Crawford and Redick coming up big. Even Big Baby Davis came up big with his spark & energy with 6 points and good defense off the bench. There were clutch plays down the stretch but non bigger than Paul’s incredible shot while injured in that moment.
San Antonio was once again led by the 39 yr old Duncan with 27 points and 11 rebounds while Parker finally played well adding 20 points. The Spurs received contributions from many players but in the end came up a tiny bit short. Danny Green added 16, Leonard scored 13 & Diaw had 12. Popovich shared compliments about the Clippers as this was one hell of a series and final game 7.
This sends LA to face Houston on the road in the second round and Paul’s status is unclear at this time. Houston is talented with James Harden and Dwight Howard leading the way but not nearly the overall team the Spurs are. More at www.nba.com/clippers
It was off to Round 2 vs the Houston Rockets, who defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. The Rockets are led by James Harden, who had a MVP season and is a one man scoring phenom. He led the league in free throws attempts and makes while coming in second in scoring averaging 27 points a game. Dwight Howard is always a force inside but the rest of the team is good but not great. They are missing defensive wiz and ball handling point guard Patrick Beverly and starting power forward Donatas Motiejunas (both out for the season with injuries). So with no real point guard, they have their hands full. Game 1 and 2 were played in Houston as they were the #2 seed and the Clippers came out on fire and won the first game running away with it in the second half. They played without Paul, who was nursing his hamstring strain from the Spurs series. Game 2 went the Rockets way in a very physical game with Harden getting many free throws as they pulled away down the stretch.
Games 3 & 4 were back at Staples Center and the Clippers came to play winning by 25 and 33 points in consecutive wins. In Game 3, LA went on a 23-0 run in the 3rd quarter to blow out the game with Austin Rivers contributing greatly and finishing with a career playoff high of 25 points on 10-13 shooting. JJ Redick was on fire going 11-14 (5-6 from 3 point range) for 31 points and Blake added 22 and 14 rebounds. Harden led Houston with 25 points but they ran out of fuel in Paul’s return from his hamstring injury. The big lead and Austin playing so well allowed Paul to get some extra rest for Game 4.
In Game 4, it got worse for Houston as they were outscored by 27 points in the second half. Even the hack a Jordan strategy that seemed like it worked (14-34 from the free throw line) didn’t prevent the blowout. De’Andre still finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds to lead a balanced attack with 6 players in double figures. While Coach McHale slowed the game down in the first half sending Jordan to the foul line a NBA record 28 times, it didn’t bother the home team as they opened it up in the second half. Coach Rivers said it kind of freaked out the team at the start but then they got over it while Paul added it was part of the game and they just had to concentrate on playing defense. Dwight Howard fouled out playing a terrible game while getting a technical foul on his way out. Blake added that Houston seemed demoralized down by 6 points even with all the missed free throws by Jordan. Griffin finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers combined for 25 points off the bench. Paul had 15 points and 12 assists in just 25 minutes, with the slow pace helping the starting point guard ease back into action off his strained hamstring.
Game 5 was back in Houston and they home team came out with a lot of energy to blow out the game. So it was back to Staples for Game 6 to close out the series. It looked great at the start as LA came out on fire and kept building the lead eventually getting to 19 points in the 3rd quarter and ending the period leading 92-79. They were outscored by an incredible 25 points in the 4th quarter even without Harden playing the first 11 minutes of the quarter. As Doc Rivers said, everything that could go wrong, went wrong. “Our team stopped playing as we tried to run out the clock. We missed layups, open shots and dunks. We just stopped playing.” They were outscored 40-15 in the 4th quarter in one of the most amazing turnarounds especially without their top player in a long time. Game 7 now heads back to Houston on Sunday as it was very disappointing not to close it out and getting some much needed rest. Now they have to win their 3rd series in 7 games dating back to last year. As it turned out, they didn’t have the energy and turned the ball over way too much as Houston prevailed to win the series in 7 games.