Clippers vs. Spurs: Game 3 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NBA Playoffs
The San Antonio Spurs grabbed a 2-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers with a 100-73 win Friday night at the AT&T Center.
It was by far the most decisive result in the series so far and may have invariably swung momentum in San Antonio's favor. Los Angeles played one of its worst games of the season, while the Spurs look to be hitting their peak form.
Tony Parker's health was a major storyline coming into Game 3. Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News reported the six-time All-Star would play. But until the game started, there was no telling how much Parker's Achilles injury might affect him.
The 32-year-old wasn't otherworldly on the night, finishing 3-of-11 from the field for six points, adding three assists and three rebounds.
But Parker's opposite number, Chris Paul, was only marginally better. Paul had seven points, three rebounds and four assists.
After the Clippers' loss in Game 2, Blake Griffin came under a lot of criticism. Although he finished with a triple-double, his costly turnover late in the fourth quarter is what most remember from his performance.
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers attempted to deflect some of the blame for the Game 2 defeat from his star power forward.
"This is not boxing," Rivers said before Friday's game, per Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times. "The team loses, and the team wins, and that's how it's always going to be."
However, Griffin's 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, 10 rebounds and five assists will have done little to quiet some of his more vocal critics.
At the end of the day, though, Griffin couldn't have done much to slow down Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs' Swiss army knife finished with 32 points, four rebounds, one assist, three steals and two blocks. Leonard was a terror on both ends.
GQ's Bethlehem Shoals thinks that Leonard holds the key in this series:
"When Kawhi is this far and away the best player on the floor the Clippers have zero chance
— Bethlehem Shoals (@freedarko) April 25, 2015"
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report added that the 23-year-old is proof that draft projections are such an inexact science:
Leonard helped to hold the Clippers to just 34.1 percent shooting from the field, including a 26.1 percent clip from behind the arc. It's worth noting that Los Angeles finished the regular season second in the league in scoring and first in offensive rating, per NBA.com.
One could argue that the Clippers lost this game in the opening minutes of the first and second halves. They dug themselves into somewhat substantial holes early on, which was the exact opposite of what they needed to do against San Antonio on the road.
The Spurs ran out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game and turned that into a 25-16 advantage after the first quarter. The reigning NBA champions maintained a healthy edge throughout the second quarter as well.
Los Angeles got to within four points, 35-31, with a little less than four minutes in the half, but San Antonio's 11-2 run made the difference 13 points inside of two minutes. During that stretch, Leonard threw down a vicious alley-oop that energized the AT&T Center:
B/R's Ric Bucher argued that Leonard's unique physical gifts enabled him to complete the seemingly superhuman dunk:
Griffin responded by scoring four points in the final 49 seconds of the half, including a jumper at the buzzer, to make it a 46-38 game as the two teams headed to the locker rooms.
Los Angeles was arguably a bit lucky to be within eight points given the run of play, and a quick run to begin the second half could get the Clippers right back into the game.
Instead, L.A. turned the ball over three times and scored just two points through the first four-plus minutes of the third quarter. The Spurs doubled their halftime lead and went up 56-40 following a bucket from Leonard.
By the time the third quarter was over, the Clippers had scored just 11 points. It was the lowest single-quarter offensive output from them all year, per Dan Woike of The Orange County Register.
The Golden State Warriors proved in their first-round matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans that a massive lead can be erased in no time. On Thursday night in Game 3, the Warriors overcame a 20-point deficit to start the fourth quarter, and they eventually won in overtime.
The Clippers' trouble was that they were facing the most battle-tested team in the league, not a group of relative newcomers to postseason basketball like the Pelicans. San Antonio wasn't about to give Los Angeles any sort of belief that could have blossomed into a full-fledged comeback.
Fans saw some shades of vintage Spurs in Game 2, but Friday night was the first time San Antonio truly transformed into its normal playoff self. Both USA Today's Dan Wolken and the New York Post's Tim Bontemps feel that the Spurs are now the team to beat in the NBA title race:
As great as San Antonio played, a Clippers win in Game 4 will change the complexion of this series all over again. Los Angeles can't dwell on this defeat for too long. Sure, losing by 27 in the postseason stings, but those points don't carry over into the next game. It's a clean slate when the teams meet again Sunday.
Should San Antonio win, though, the Spurs would own a commanding lead, one from which there might be no return for Los Angeles. Game 4 isn't a must-win for the Clippers, but they'd be doing themselves no favors in defeat.
