The Los Angeles Clippers inflicted the first loss of the season to the San Antonio Spurs. The team from LA defeated guests from Texas at Staples last night with 103-97, after an exciting match in which Kawhi Leonard dominated.
The former Spurs and the player who was supposed to be the cornerstone of Gregg Popovich’s side dropped 38 points on his ex-team. The Claw delivered 25 points in the second half and was always there to score when needed the most.
“It was something I look forward to,” Leonard said about facing the Spurs. “Just to be able to play against a great coach and my old teammates is always fun.”
At the start of the final period, once Spurs reached awfully close to the home team, 80-75, Clippers responded with an 11-2 run. Nine of those buckets were Leonard’s. He was also involved in the first push LA made during the third period, once they had a 9-1 surge, which pulled them away to 64-55. Eventually, the Spurs came back, but the hosts rebuffed that attempt to change the result.
Kawhi shot 15 for 32, and had 12 boards and 4 steals, one of them in the final moments during the late part of the game, once he took the ball from DeMar DeRozan.
Coach Popovich didn’t speak too much about Leonard but stated that he believes that his former player played excellently.
“I thought he was great,” Pop said.
The first half of the game was tight, and neither side had some big leads. The result at the break was 50-48 for the hosts, as Leonard shot just 5 of 16 from the field. Later on, when Claw got into his rhythm, things were easier for the Clippers.
Besides Leonard, LA had Montrezl Harrell, who delivered 24 off the bench, shooting 9 of 11 from the game. Lou Williams had 12 with 5 assists.
On the other side, DeMar DeRozan led the way with 29 points and 7 boards but also had 7 turnovers. Derrick White added 20 in 25 minutes. LaMarcus Aldridge ended the game with just 5 points in 36 minutes, which is way below his average of 21.3 so far.
Both sides had bad shooting percentages, especially for three points. The Clippers were 5 of 26, while Spurs hit 7 shots in 21 attempts.
“It was a gritty game by both teams where no one could make a shot,” Rivers said. “Tonight was not a great offensive night, but we were able to win it on defense.”
The Spurs who are 3-1 are now heading for San Francisco to meet the injury-massacred Warriors. It will be their first back-to-back game this season, and it is interesting to see how they behave, especially following this loss. After that, they host the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
The Clippers, 4-2, will have a chance to redeem for the loss against Utah Jazz two days ago. Kawhi didn’t appear back in Salt Lake City, and the Jazzers will have much more trouble now. After that game, Leonard and the guys meet with the Milwaukee Bucks, whom he eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals previous season. The game is set for Wednesday.
