Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 116-92 win over the San Antonio Spurs
Here are five takeaways from the Clippers’ 116-92 victory over the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday.
1.) Blake Griffin went to work for the Clippers in the first half and there was nothing the San Antonio Spurs could do about it.
Griffin started his onslaught toward 28 points in the first quarter.
He missed just one of the eight shots he took in the first, scoring 16 points in the process.
He missed just three of the eight shots he took in the second quarter, scoring 10 points.
By the half, Griffin had scored 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting.
He didn’t play in the fourth quarter, but the damage was already done.
“It’s nice to have those easy looks go down,” said Griffin, who finished the game 13-for-19 from the field. “It just kind of builds your confidence.”
2.) Before Saturday night’s game against the Spurs, Jamal Crawford needed to score six points to pass Grant Hill (17,137 points), his onetime Clippers teammate, for 88th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
With three seconds left in the first half, Crawford made a three-pointer off a pass from Chris Paul.
Crawford had moved past Hill with that shot.
Now over his 17-year career, Crawford has scored 17,178 points.
3.) J.J. Redick got it going for the Clippers against the Spurs.
He had 14 points on five-for-nine shooting, two-for-three on three-pointers.
4.) Luc Mbah a Moute’s is the forgotten man for the Clippers on offense.
Well, he made the Spurs pay for that Saturday night.
Mbah a Moute had 13 points on five-for-nine shooting. He was two-for-four from three-point range.
But his job on offense is to cut to the basket, and that’s what he did.
Mbah a Moute also did a very good job on defense against Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, holding him to 14 points on three-for-13 shooting.
5.) The Clippers tied their season-high in points, scoring 116.
But they shot a season-high 51.6% from the field.
They had good spacing. They moved the basketball, collecting 24 assists on 47 made field goals.
They scored 39 points in the first quarter, 34 in the second, had a lull when they scored 16 in the third, but picked back up to score 27 in the fourth.
“We got out in transition, got some easy buckets,” Griffin said. “Then once those easy ones go in, it feels like you can’t miss.”
Follow Broderick Turner on Twitter @BA_Turner
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