Chris Paul leads Clippers past Spurs to Game 4 win, knots series at 2-2
After dropping an overtime heartbreaker in Game 2 and getting blasted on Friday night to fall behind the San Antonio Spurs two games to one, a lot of us wondered how the Los Angeles Clippers would respond on Sunday. Would they once again get trampled by a surging Spurs squad led by newly minted Defensive Player of the Year and top scoring threat Kawhi Leonard? Or would they fight their way out of the corner into which they’d painted themselves?
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They came out swinging, scoring the game’s first six points, and kept fighting throughout to notch an impressive 114-105 victory that evened up their best-of-seven first-round series at two games apiece. The Clippers’ All-Stars stepped up in a major way, with point guard Chris Paul scoring a game-high 34 points to go with seven assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block, and power forward Blake Griffin came through with 20 points while serving as a constant presence on the boards en route to a career playoff-high 19 rebounds, and chipping in seven assists against just one turnover in a game-high 43 minutes.
In stark contrast to the first three games of the series, the Clippers’ stars received ample support from their second unit, including a breakout performance from third-year guard Austin Rivers.
The former Duke star, 2012 lottery pick and son of L.A. head coach Doc Rivers poured in 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting in 17 minutes on Sunday, using his ball-handling skill and quickness off the dribble to beat San Antonio defenders off the dribble, penetrate and finish in what was his most efficient outing as a Clipper.
“Game ball goes to Austin Rivers,” Paul said during his postgame interview with ABC’s Lisa Salters. “You know, this is his first playoffs. What he did out there, it just motivated our team. It’s a hell of a game for Austin, man.”
He joined veteran reserve Jamal Crawford (15 points on 6-for-13 shooting, three assists and two rebounds in 29 minutes) to carry the Clippers offense in the early stage of the fourth quarter, combining for 12 of L.A.’s first 14 fourth-quarter points. The off-the-dribble duo added some variety and ammunition to a Clipper scoring attack that had gone punchless in Game 3, as L.A. shot 53.6 percent from the field and notched 24 assists against just nine turnovers in the series-evening win.
Rivers certainly earned Paul’s praise with his playoff-best performance, but let’s not get it twisted — if a game ball’s going anywhere here, it’s going to the guy who scored 22 points after halftime.
“All my teammates, my brother, my dad, all them have been telling me how passive I’ve been, so I just tried to be a little aggressive,” Paul told Salters.
He did more than try, continually keeping the Spurs defense off balance with his peerless probing off the pick-and-roll, his dead-eye shooting on the pull-up midrange jumpers San Antonio tends to allow off high screens, and his ability to collapse the defense with penetration to create open looks for his shooters.
Paul also persevered through some adversity, picking up his fifth foul while defending Spurs point guard Tony Parker with 8:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, just 39 seconds after re-entering the game following an early-period rest. He’d stay in the game for a couple more minutes before being removed for a brief breather; after returning at the 5:58 mark, he took over, scoring six points in 64 seconds to increase the Clippers lead to 11. Then he penetrated into the paint to draw the Spurs’ attention before kicking out a laser pass to J.J. Redick for three of his 17 points, making it 106-92 with 3:29 left.
The Spurs continued to fight, with Leonard hitting a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to eight with 2:29 remaining, but his attempt at pull-up 20-footer on the next trip that would’ve made it a two-possession game came up empty, with Griffin again cleaning the defensive glass and turning the final two minutes into a free-throw contest that the Clippers were able to win.
The foul line gave the Spurs problems on both ends of the court on Sunday. San Antonio, which posted the league’s fourth-best team free-throw percentage during the regular season, shot just 25-for-35 from the stripe. And after having racked up fouls in the early stages of the third quarter that would enable them to play “Hack-A-DeAndre” if they needed to, the Spurs wound up paying the price in the form of multiple late-quarter trips to the line for the always attacking Paul, who went 6-for-6 at the stripe in the final 2:14 of the frame, helping turn a 70-69 Spurs advantage into an 81-76 Clipper lead entering the fourth.
The Spurs’ shooting struggles extended from the foul line to the 3-point arc, with San Antonio shooting just 6-for-25 and Parker. After making six of 10 triple tries in Games 2 and 3, Danny Green reverted to the ice-cold shooting of Game 1, going scoreless on an 0-for-6 mark from long distance. Some of that’s owed to sound Clipper defense, as Doc Rivers’ club did seem more on-time with their rotations and active in their closeouts on San Antonio shooters. Some of it, though, could have to do with the Spurs simply running cold on reasonably clean looks.
According to NBA.com’s SportVU player tracking data, the Spurs went just 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) on field goal attempts that were “uncontested,” meaning there was no defender within 3 1/2 feet of the shooter at the time of the release. In their wins in Games 2 and 3, the Spurs shot 44-for-90 (48.9 percent) on those “uncontested” looks, per SportVU. If a couple more of those open looks go down, the Spurs might find themselves in a very different ballgame.
Leonard led the way with 26 points on 10-for-19 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, one block and no turnovers in 40 minutes. Tim Duncan continued to impress after turning 39 on Saturday, scoring 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting with 14 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals in 38 minutes. Patty Mills once again offered some punch off the bench, scoring 14 points in 20 minutes, but also found himself roundly outmatched in his attempts to check Paul and Rivers on the perimeter.
But while the Spurs are likely kicking themselves for making the mistakes that left the door open, the Clippers deserve credit for walking through and taking Sunday’s game. As Manu Ginobili said after the game, L.A. made San Antonio pay for its poor shooting and at-times sloppy defense, playing the “inspired” brand of basketball that Clippers fans hoped to see their team produce with their backs to the wall.
As a result, we’re all knotted up at two, with each team having scratched out a win in their opponents’ gym. With the scene set to shift back to Hollywood for Tuesday’s pivotal Game 5, we’re left with a three-game sprint to the finish in a series that figures to be decided on the smallest of margins.
In times like these, then, it’s awful nice to have a point guard who executes better than just about anybody else in the world.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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