San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Clippers: 4 Players Key to Clippers Upset

The Los Angeles Clippers are thought of as having little chance in their Round 2 matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. If Lob City wants to pull off the mammoth upset, they will need some big performances out of a few players not named Paul or Griffin.

Here are four Clipper role players who need to step up...

Nick Young: SG

Young is strictly a shooter, capable of getting scorching hot at any time. We saw that in Game 1 of the Clippers first-round playoff series with the Memphis Grizzlies, and we've seen that his entire career. That's not to say Young was only effective in Game 1, he shot an incredible 52.6 percent from behind the arc for the full seven games.

The Clippers are going to need to score in the 100's consistently to hang with a Spurs offense that finished second in the NBA in points in the regular season, and Young is the right guy to help. 

Reggie Evans: PF

While he's extremely limited offensively, Reggie Evans is one of the more efficient rebounders in the league. In only 13.8 minutes per game this season, Evans averaged 4.8 rebounds, and when he saw his workload increase in the Clippers first-round series to 22.4 minutes, he averaged 8.7 rebounds.

Evans is undersized at 6'8", but he's a high-energy guy and a solid defender. The Clippers will need him to continue to grab boards and slow down Tim Duncan inside, no easy task, however. 

Kenyon Martin: PF

At age 34, Martin is certainly a shell of his former self. But that doesn't mean the guy isn't useful, and that was made no clearer than in the last two games of the Clippers first-round series. Martin made 11 of 13 shots, blocked 4 shots and grabbed 12 rebounds.

While the scoring is a nice bonus, Martin's bread and butter is on the defensive end, as he's one of the more physical defenders in the league. If Evans and Martin can give the Clips what they did against Memphis, then they are far from an easy out.

DeAndre Jordan: C

Unlike the other three guys on this list, Jordan underwhelmed with his first-round performance.

After averaging 7.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in the regular season, Jordan saw those numbers drop to 3.6 and 4.1 against Memphis, respectively. He can't have another series like that or the Clips playoff run will be over.

While they definitely need more out of him offensively, primarily he has to prevent the Spurs from getting second-chance opportunities and continue to block shots (2.0 BPG).