Tag: In the News

Spurs vs. Clippers schedule, rosters, season series

SERIES AT A GLANCE
Western Conference semifinals

Game 1 Today: Clippers @Spurs, 8:30 p.m.
TV: TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

Game 2 Thursday: Clippers @Spurs, 8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

Game 3 Saturday: Spurs @Clippers, 2:30 p.m.
TV: ABC Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

Game 4 Sunday: Spurs @Clippers, 9:30 p.m.
TV: TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

*Game 5 May 22: Clippers @Spurs, TBD
TV: TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

*Game 6 May 25: Spurs @Clippers, TBD
TV: ESPN Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

*Game 7 May 27: Clippers @Spurs, TBD
TV: TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350

* — As needed in best-of-7 series

SPURS ROSTER (50-16)

No. — Player — Pos. — Ht. — Wt. — DOB — From — Yrs.
25 — James Anderson — G — 6-6 — 215 — 3/25/89 — Oklahoma St. — 2nd
45 — DeJuan Blair — C — 6-7 — 270 — 4/22/89 — Pittsburgh — 3rd
15 — Matt Bonner — F-C — 6-10 — 235 — 4/5/80 — Florida — 8th
34 — Derrick Byars — G-F — 6-7 — 220 — 4/25/84 — Vanderbilt — 1st
33 — Boris Diaw — G-C — 6-8 — 235 — 4/16/82 — France — 9th
21 — Tim Duncan — F — 6-11 — 255 — 4/25/76 — Wake Forest — 15th
20 — Manu Ginobili — G — 6-6 — 205 — 7/28/77 — Argentina — 10th
4 — Danny Green — G-F — 6-6 — 210 — 6/22/87 — North Carolina — 3rd
3 — Stephen Jackson — F-G — 6-8 — 220 — 4/5/78 — Oak Hill Acad. (Va.) — 12th
5 — Cory Joseph — G — 6-3 — 185 — 8/20/91 — Texas — 1st
2 — Kawhi Leonard — F — 6-7 — 225 — 6/29/91 — San Diego St. — 1st
8 — Patty Mills — G — 6-0 — 185 — 8/11/88 — St. Mary’s (Calif.) — 3rd
14 — Gary Neal — G — 6-4 — 210 — 10/3/84 — Towson — 2nd
9 — Tony Parker — G — 6-2 — 185 — 5/17/82 — France — 11th
22 — Tiago Splitter — F — 6-11 — 240 — 1/1/85 — Brazil — 2nd

Head coach: Gregg Popovich
Assistant coaches: Mike Budenholzer, Don Newman, Brett Brown, Chip Engelland, Chad Forcier, Jacque Vaughn
Strength and conditioning: Matt Herring
Athletic trainer: Will Sevening

Clippers ROSTER (40-26)

No. — Player — Pos. — Ht. — Wt. — DOB — From — Yrs.
1 — Chauncey Billups — G — 6-3 — 210 — 9/25/76 — Colorado — 15th
12 — Eric Bledsoe — G — 6-1 — 195 — 12/9/89 — Kentucky — 2nd
5 — Caron Butler — F — 6-7 — 228 — 3/13/80 — Connecticut — 10th
30 — Reggie Evans — F — 6-8 — 245 — 5/18/80 — Iowa — 10th
4 — Randy Foye — G — 6-4 — 213 — 9/24/83 — Villanova — 6th
15 — Ryan Gomes — F — 6-7 — 245 — 9/1/82 — Providence — 7th
32 — Blake Griffin — F — 6-10 — 251 — 3/16/89 — Oklahoma — 2nd
6 — DeAndre Jordan — C — 6-11 — 265 — 7/21/88 — Texas AM — 4th
23 — Travis Leslie — G — 6-4 — 205 — 3/29/90 — Georgia — 1st
2 — Kenyon Martin — F — 6-9 — 240 — 12/30/77 — Cincinnati — 12th
3 — Chris Paul — G — 6-0 — 175 — 5/6/85 — Wake Forest — 7th
21 — Bobby Simmons — F — 6-6 — 235 — 6/2/80 — DePaul — 9th
33 — Trey Thompkins — F — 6-10 — 245 — 5/29/90 — Georgia — 1st
25 — Mo Williams — G — 6-1 — 195 — 12/19/82 — Alabama — 9th
11 — Nick Young — G — 6-7 — 210 — 6/1/85 — USC — 5th

Head coach: Vinny Del Negro
Assistant coaches: Marc Iavaroni, Dean Demopoulos, Robert Pack, Dave Severns, Howard Eisley
Strength and conditioning: Richard Williams
Athletic trainer: Jasen Powell

SEASON SERIES (SPURS WON 2-1)

Spurs 115, Clippers 90
Dec. 28, 2011 @ATT Center: In the second game of the season, Manu Ginobili scored 24, DeJuan Blair had 20, and now-former Spur Richard Jefferson had 19 in the team’s 17th straight home win over the Clippers. The Spurs only led 58-54 at half but pulled away with a 38-17 advantage in the third quarter. Blake Griffin had 28 points for L.A., but Chris Paul was held to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Spurs 103, Clippers 100
Feb. 18, 2012 @Staples Center: Reserve Spurs guard Gary Neal went from goat to hero in a matter of seconds. He turned the ball over with 9.5 seconds left, got a gift steal from Paul on the inbounds pass and hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds to go. Then, he hit a three late in overtime, finishing with 17 points as six Spurs scored in double figures.

Clippers 120, Spurs 108
March 9, 2012 @ATT Center: A sore thigh kept Tony Parker from suiting up, and the Clippers won in San Antonio for the first time since Jan. 21, 2002. It was one of five home losses for the Spurs this season. Paul took advantage of Parker’s absence with 36 points and 11 assists, while Mo Williams hit 7 of 9 on 3-pointers and scored 33 points.

Spurs finally find out just what they’re up against

By Jeff McDonald

The Spurs arrived at their practice facility Sunday afternoon — for their third workout in six days with no game — to find they had drawn the opponent they had most desired in the Western Conference semifinals.

Somebody. Anybody.

“You can’t prepare for nobody,” guard Manu Ginobili said.

As far as the Spurs were concerned, the Los Angeles Clippers became their next somebody with a gritty Game 7 victory in Memphis, which finally cemented a second-round opponent beginning Tuesday at the ATT Center.

When the top-seeded Spurs hit the floor for the first time since finishing off Utah last Monday, Chris Paul and the Clippers — and not Zach Randolph and the Grizzlies — will be the team awaiting them.

For the Spurs, who had been going stir crazy scrimmaging each other in their own practice gym, the “who” is less important than the “finally.”

“It drives you a little crazy preparing for two teams at once,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “One day, you think somebody’s going to win, then it changes. It went back and forth. At least now we know who we’re playing.”

In a well-coined phrase, made for T-Shirts: It’s Lob City.

In Paul and Blake Griffin, the KIA-hopping dunk-machine, the fifth-seeded Clippers come with more star power — and, perhaps, more firepower — than did the Jazz.

Widely considered the NBA’s premier point guard, the 27-year-old Paul averaged 20.4 points and 7.1 assists in the Memphis series. By force of will, he lifted the Clippers past a team that at times seemed vastly superior.

The Spurs are familiar with this playoff version of Paul. Then with New Orleans, he pushed the Spurs to seven games in the 2008 conference finals.

“He’s one of those players, you know he’s not going to give up,” Ginobili said.

Popovich described Paul in terms even more glowing: “He’s a future Hall of Famer.”

The presence of an almost-certain lock for Springfield is one thing that separates the Spurs’ next opponent from its last.

Another difference between the Clippers and Jazz: The Clippers have a few players who can shoot from outside 8 feet.

Case in point is Mo Williams, the reserve guard who torched the Spurs for 33 points — and made 7 of 9 3-pointers — in a 120-108 Clippers victory at the ATT Center in March.

“They’re very different,” said Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who averaged a team-best 21 points in the first round. “They’re more transition, fast breaks, lobs.

“Utah, everything was in the paint. They didn’t have a lot of shooters. The Clippers have some good shooters, so it’s a lot different.”

The Spurs’ strategy in the Utah series was to leave the Jazz shooters alone to clank all but 20 percent of their 3-point tries and use extra defenders to double-team the post.

The Clippers’ abundance of 3-point threats — which includes guard Randy Foye and recently acquired wing Nick Young — might make it more difficult for the Spurs to get away with that approach.

“You can’t help as much as we did against the Jazz,” Ginobili said.

The Spurs, meanwhile, will have to hope an eight-day layoff between series doesn’t rust over the well-oiled machine that has produced 14 consecutive victories.

They will approach the Clippers with a steady diet of Parker pick-and-rolls, lockstep team defense and slick offensive execution that got them this far this fast.

Or, as former Spurs great David Robinson framed the matchup on his Twitter feed Sunday afternoon: “Lob City vs. Fundamental City.”

After an extended, nerve-rattling break, the citizens of Fundamental City are just happy to have another game to play and another opponent to scout.

“The uncertainty is not always good,” Ginobili said. “At this point of the season, you want to know what you’re going to face.”

At long last, at least, the Spurs know.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS
(Best-of-seven series)

Game 1: Tuesday, @Spurs, 8:30 p.m., TNT

Game 2: Thursday, @Spurs, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Game 3: Saturday, @Clippers, 2:30 p.m., ABC

Game 4: Sunday, @Clippers, 9:30 p.m., TNT

* Game 5: May 22, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* Game 6: May 25, @Clippers, TBA, ESPN

* Game 7: May 27, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* If necessary

Wait almost over for Spurs

By Jeff McDonald

Blame the Los Angeles Clippers for whiffing twice in their bid to close out the Memphis Grizzlies. Blame the Grizzlies for their stubborn and steadfast refusal to go quietly.

Blame the Utah Jazz for putting up all the resistance of soaked newsprint in their first-round series with the Spurs. Blame the Spurs for the ruthless efficiency with which they swept away the Jazz.

Whoever is to blame for the Spurs’ prolonged break between playoff rounds — and there is plenty to go around — this is what is most important now:

The end, thank goodness, is nigh.

“I think everybody pretty much wants to get back on the floor and play,” Spurs guard Danny Green said.

Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals is set for Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. at the ATT Center. All that is missing now is an opponent.

By dinnertime tonight, that devilish detail should be finalized, too. Either the Grizzlies or the Clippers will win Game 7 in Memphis, slated for a noon tipoff, then will not pass “Go” en route to San Antonio for the start of the next round.

“I really don’t care who we play,” Spurs captain Tim Duncan said. “Whatever it might be, they’re going to figure it out themselves. We’re just going to be here waiting.”

And waiting.

When the Spurs finally take the floor again for Game 1, it will have been eight days since finishing off the sweep in Utah.

With such a long layoff, the Spurs are at least certain to start the next round completely healthy, afflicted by no malady save for cabin fever.

To pass the time, coach Gregg Popovich has staged a pair of full-squad scrimmages in the team’s practice gym, complete with referees. After the Grizzlies and Clippers dispense with their series this afternoon, the Spurs will reconvene for their first opponent-specific practice of the break.

“I think guys are getting a little excited to see who’s going to be next up,” Green said. “Playoffs are a big deal. We want to get back to them as quick as we can.”

By the time the Spurs returned from Utah early Tuesday morning, the fifth-seeded Clippers had forged a surprising 3-1 lead in their series. There was hope among Spurs players and coaches that the second round might be soon in the offing.

But the Clippers have since squandered two chances to finish the fourth-seeded Grizzlies — including once in Los Angeles in Game 6 — pushing the series to the limit.

Now that their two potential opponents have arrived at a do-or-die seventh game, the Spurs have expressed no public preference for which they prefer.

A matchup with Memphis would bring a rematch of last year’s first-round series, when the Grizzlies — then a No. 8 seed — stunned the top-seeded Spurs. A meeting with the Clippers would summon a pair of Western Conference All-Star starters to the second-round stage in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

In the regular season, the Spurs went 4-0 against Memphis and 2-1 against the Clippers, who on March 9 became one of only five visitors this year to win at the ATT Center.

“But both teams play very hard, good defensively, good defense on the bigs,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Whoever we play will be really tough.”

At long last, the Spurs can fill in that last remaining blank this afternoon.

“It’s going to be nice to get back on the floor so we can get back in the flow of things,” Green said. “It’s the playoffs. Nobody wants to be sitting at home watching games. We want to be part of it.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS OR GRIZZLIES

Game 1: @Spurs, Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., TNT

Game 2: @Spurs, Thursday, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Game 3: @Clippers or Grizzlies, Saturday, 2:30 pm., ABC

Game 4: @Clippers or Grizzlies, Sunday, 9:30 p.m. or 7 p.m., TNT

*Game 5: @Spurs, May 22 (Tuesday), TNT

*Game 6: @Clippers or Grizzlies, May 24 (Thursday), ESPN

*Game 7: @Spurs, May 27 (Sunday), TNT

* if necessary