Spurs break down Clippers, 116-90

The momentum the Clippers built before the All-Star break is over, crushed by a basketball clinic put on by the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

Offensively, the Spurs sliced up the Clippers’ defense. Defensively, the Spurs stymied seemingly everything the Clippers tried.

The result was an easy 116-90 Spurs victory at Staples Center, L.A.’s largest loss of the season.

San Antonio showed why it has the best record in the NBA at 44-12, with Tony Parker scoring 31 points to lead four players in double figures.

As for the Clippers, they had their four-game winning streak snapped and fell 51/2 games behind the Spurs in the Western Conference.

“It was just a complete [butt] kicking from the start, in every way,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “The bottom line is, we just didn’t play hard enough and they played harder than we did.”

The Clippers’ first game after the All-Star break was memorable only for the 34-point deficit they fell into, their largest of the season.

The Spurs did this by getting wide-open layup after wide-open layup en route to making 58.9% of their shots.

They also got open behind the three-point line, making eight of 17 (47.1%) from long distance.

Parker was the best player on the court, making 12 of 16 shots to go with seven assists in just 28 minutes.

Chris Paul, the most valuable player at the All-Star game, played a game he’d like to forget.

Paul had only four points and three assists. He missed five of his six shots, both of his three-pointers.

“It’s a welcome-back after the All-Star break loss,” Paul said. “Luckily it’s not our last game. It shows we’ve got to get back to work.”

Blake Griffin had 17 points and eight rebounds. But he missed 10 of his 17 shots.

For the game, the Clippers shot only 42.1% from the field, 31.3% from the three-point line, and turned the ball over 20 times

After the spanking they took, the Clippers could at least say they still lead the season-series, 2-1, with one more game to play in San Antonio on March 29.

It was not the kind of start to the game the Clippers wanted.

They gave up 34 points in the first quarter, tying an opponent high for the season.

The Spurs had a 34-31 lead, shooting 66.7% and making four of six three-pointers.

By the half, the Spurs had opened a 58-43 lead and their hot shooting continued — 63.2% from the field and 50% on three-pointers.

And they did it mostly without Tim Duncan, who played only eight minutes in the first half.

Parker was the show for the Spurs.

He had 17 first-half points on eight-for-12 shooting. Parker also had five assists. Danny Green had 10 first-half points for the Spurs.

The fans did have something to cheer about. With the Clippers down 83-55 in the third quarter, season-ticket holder Hagop Blikian won a car during a timeout by making a half-court shot.

Meanwhile, the Clippers crashed and burned.

“We didn’t bring the effort, the intensity, the mind-set tonight to compete at the level you need to against a team like that,” Del Negro said.

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner