San Antonio Spurs Bench Exposing Los Angeles Clippers' Fatal Flaw
LOS ANGELES — There were more than a few moments during Game 5 when the Los Angeles Clippers seemed to have the San Antonio Spurs—and their hopes of defending their NBA title—on the ropes. In each of those moments, the Spurs bench rode in to the rescue.
A 27-13 deficit in the first quarter. A 12-2 run by the Clippers in the second. A hack-filled slog through an interminable third. Another hard charge by the home team at Staples Center in the final frame.
Every time the Clippers landed a bruising blow, San Antonio's second unit countered with a crushing one of its own in a 111-107 win over L.A.
The Spurs' reserves were among the multitude of factors that tilted the outcome of this contest. But they constitute the only one that's given San Antonio any consistent edge in this series—an edge that could propel this tired squad through its title defense.
"We got hit first in the fight, but we were able to fight back as a team to get us back in the game," Manu Ginobili said after the game.
Per usual, Ginobili played a pivotal part in the success of the Spurs' reserves. He accounted, by either score or assist, for 11 points during San Antonio's 15-0 run between the first and second quarters, including the three-pointer to put the visitors ahead, 28-27. All told, the wily Argentine finished with 14 points and six assists, the 26th time Ginobili has been at least that prolific in a playoff game in his illustrious career.
But Ginobili was hardly alone as far as standouts among the Spurs' subs were concerned. Patty Mills nailed two threes during the Spurs' early comeback. Boris Diaw hit a slew of clutch shots to stave off the Clippers' fourth-quarter surge. Marco Belinelli chipped in a pair of treys.
Even Matt Bonner, with his lone long-range bomb and handful of intentional fouls on DeAndre Jordan, had an unmistakable impact on the outcome.
All told, the Spurs' reserves have outscored their Clippers counterparts by 104 points in the series. Moreover, San Antonio's second five (i.e. Ginobili, Mills, Diaw, Belinelli and Bonner) has combined for a better plus-minus rating (plus-8.0) than the team's starters (plus-7.6).
"Everyone’s such a big part of this team, from the first guy to the last guy," said Mills, who finished with 13 points. "Everyone has confidence in each other to step up when needed."
"They had different guys stepping up at different times, hitting big shots, hitting timely shots," said Jamal Crawford, who scored eight points on 4-of-15 shooting off the Clippers' bench. "I think that gave their team confidence."
That's been the case for the Spurs bench—not just in this game or in this series, but all season and stretching back through the entirety of this team's four-year return to relevance. According to Hoops Stats, San Antonio has ranked among the top two in bench scoring in three of the last four seasons. The lone exception: 2012-13, when San Antonio was fifth in that regard.
To be sure, the Spurs have had a prolific bench for much longer than that. But the genesis of this particular group dates back to March 2012, when general manager R.C. Buford signed Mills and Diaw off the league's scrap heap. Both have benefited tremendously from their respective fits within Pop's universe since then.
Mills, cast off by the Portland Trail Blazers to clear space for Armon Johnson, has shot 44.6 percent from three over the last two postseasons. Diaw, whom the then-Charlotte Bobcats waived in the midst of their seven-win debacle of a season in 2011-12, has averaged 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in his last 28 playoff games, unlocking all manner of lineup possibilities with his passing, shooting and defensive versatility.
Each can slide in comfortably alongside the Spurs starters or comprise the heart of a superb second unit with equal efficacy. The same goes for Ginobili, a two-time All-Star, four-time champion and former Sixth Man of the Year.
"Pop has kind of structured it that way where we have that second punch coming off the bench in those guys," said Tim Duncan, "and we've relied on our depth for the last couple years to be the team that we are, especially in situations like this. Those guys have been playing great. Those guys have given us a huge boost."
Beyond talent, the Spurs' reserves have thrived on the strength of their experience. Continuity is key; this year's San Antonio roster is nearly identical to the one that lifted the Larry O'Brien Trophy last June.
But so, too, is Popovich's trademark manner of divvying up minutes and creating opportunities for all of his players during the course of a campaign.
"It starts in the regular season," said Tony Parker. "Pop plays his bench the whole year. They play a lot of minutes in the regular season, so when it comes playoff time, they are used to playing. [A strong bench] is very important in the long run if you are trying to win a championship."
Last season, that bench afforded Pop the leeway to rest everyone enough to make the Spurs the first team since the NBA-ABA merger to finish without a single player averaging more than 30 minutes per game. San Antonio would've replicated that feat in 2014-15 if not for Kawhi Leonard's 31.8 minutes.
"It's great. We don't have to play 48 minutes," said Leonard after Game 5.
That's particularly true (and important) during the playoffs, when benches typically shorten, rotations tighten and starters regularly slog through upward of 40 minutes a night.
By and large, the Spurs have managed to avoid wearing out any of their constituents in this series. Aside from Duncan's 44 minutes in an overtime win in Game 2 and Leonard's 40 minutes in a Game 4 loss, no Spur has topped the 40-minute mark against the Clippers.
L.A.'s players, on the other hand, have racked up 40 or more minutes on nine occasions. Blake Griffin alone has hit or exceeded that mark four times in five games.
It's no wonder, then, that Griffin has been party to so many of the Clippers' crunch time shortcomings in two of their three losses. In Game 2, Griffin lost the ball in key moments at the end of regulation and in overtime in a 111-107 loss in L.A. In Game 5, he followed up a 21-point first half with a 3-of-15 shooting performance after the break, including 1-of-9 with three turnovers in the fourth quarter.
"Down the stretch everybody is tired, but [fatigue] is a factor," Griffin admitted. "But it's a factor for everybody, so it's not really an advantage or disadvantage for anybody, I don't think."
If fatigue (or lack thereof) is an advantage for either team, it counts in the Spurs' favor. Surely, that disparity has had something to do with the 39-year-old Duncan (i.e. the oldest player in the postseason) outplaying Griffin, a spry 26-year-old known as one of the best athletes on planet Earth, in the critical moments of a swing game in this series.
Would that be the case if the roles were reversed? If Griffin got to watch someone like Diaw confidently siphon off his minutes? If Duncan had only a handful of minutes to rest each game while the likes of Spencer Hawes, Hedo Turkoglu and Ekpe Udoh racked up did-not-plays?
"Everybody depends on their bench to help them in the playoffs," Popovich said. "Without it, you don't go anywhere. If you took Crawford and Mills and locked them up someplace, both teams would be much less effective, that's for sure."
That may be true in theory, but in reality, only one of those second-unit studs has been shuttered. Mills has popped off for 12 points per game on 52.1 percent shooting (59.1 percent from three). Crawford, on the other hand, has hit just 4-of-23 from beyond the arc, with an 0-of-6 performance in Game 5 adding to that misery.
And even if the Clippers somehow managed to stifle Mills, they'd still have to contend with Ginobili and Diaw and Belinelli and whichever other rabbit Popovich pulls out of his hat next.
Take Crawford, L.A.'s lone bench ace, out of the mix, and the Clippers are down to Glen Davis, who scored as many points in Game 5 (seven) as he had in his previous three, and Austin Rivers, who followed up a 16-point explosion in Game 4 with a two-point stinker on Tuesday, as their most reliable options off the bench.
The Clippers probably have a better top six than the Spurs and, on balance, have been the better team in this series. But San Antonio's reserves—of talent, preparedness and energy—run much deeper. Their best players are fresher to perform in the most pressure-packed moments, and Popovich has more guys to whom he can turn to deliver under duress.
That disparity alone could give the Spurs just enough fuel to not only push past the Clippers in Game 6 in San Antonio on Thursday, but also sustain this aging dynasty through the sort of complete title defense that this storied franchise has yet to enjoy.
"We rely on our bench to come in and give us a boost," Duncan added. "That's how we win games."
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter.
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