Game 5: Los Angeles Clippers (2) vs San Antonio Spurs (2)

[areg789]

Los Angeles Clippers vs San Antonio Spurs

Where: Staples Center in Los Angeles, California
When: Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 7:30 P.M. (PST)
TV: Prime Ticket, TNT, and FSSW










Los Angeles Clippers Starters

....................Chris Paul #3........................................J.J. Redick #4

...............Matt Barnes #22..................................Blake Griffin #32

............DeAndre Jordan #6


San Antonio Spurs Starters

.................Tony Parker #9.................................Danny Green #14

..............Kawhi Leonard #2...............................Tim Duncan #21

..............Tiago Splitter #22


Los Angeles Clippers Bench

..............Austin Rivers #25............................Jamal Crawford #11

............Hedo Turkoglu #15...................................Glen Davis #0

.............Spencer Hawes #10


San Antonio Spurs Bench

..................Patty Mills #8.....................................Manu Ginóbili #20

...............Marco Belinelli #3.................................Boris Diaw #33

.................Aron Baynes #16


Injury Report

Matt Barnes (Sore right shoulder) is questionable

None to report


Team Leaders (Playoffs)


Los Angeles Clippers

Chris Paul: 23.5 PPG

Blake Griffin: 13.2 RPG and 7.2 APG

DeAndre Jordan: 3.0 BPG

Matt Barnes: 2.0 SPG


San Antonio Spurs

Kawhi Leonard: 24.8 PPG and 2 SPG

Tim Duncan: 10.8 RPG and 2.2 BPG

Manu Ginóbili: 4.5 APG


Key Matchup



One of the biggest reasons the Clippers were victorious last night was the bench stepping up, especially one man in particular, Austin Rivers. Hopefully, he'll be able to produce numbers like he did last night on a daily basis.


Previous Games (Series Tied 2-2)


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQW-B7PGcwM[/youtube]
Clippers win (107-92)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL6y-XlG6Nk[/youtube]
Spurs win (111-107)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf2hIKf_Kcw[/youtube]
Spurs win (100-73)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGZFNfjWgmU[/youtube]
Clippers win (114-105)

[mkwest]

[instagram]https://instagram.com/p/1_dk0-Oq_T/[/instagram]
Matt Barnes joked about getting dressed up for media. Shoulder wrapped, was and still is in pain, but said he'll be ready for game 5 tomorrow

[mttwlsn16]

Got to come out of this game up 3-2. Not really feeling a must win in game 6 @ SA.

According to some....coughmtvcough.....this series is already over.

Legooooooo.

Im glad the Mavs won last night so we are a later game. I have to work til 930-10 et, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to watch the whole game. Now i know i can. GO TEAM

[mkwest]

Game 5 winner goes on to win a series about 82% of the time.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_fW023GgE[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmHMaBqpOk[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w27cZUVTzo0[/youtube]

[Quake Griffin]

Chris said that he needs his fan support out there for Game 5.
and anybody who sits in my section (and relatively near me) knows QG is gonna give it.

Love this city.
Love this team.
Love collecting red shirts at playoff time.


LETS DO THIS!!!!!1111

[Dynamix]

Game 5 winner goes on to win a series about 82% of the time.

If we do win tonight, that 18% will still scare me like hell. But one thing's for sure, if we lose it's not good at all.

P.S. Balmer should put a couple of grand into setting up a soundproof interview area for the practice facility. Can barely hear anything during some of these.

[ChosunX]

What team had pracice during the interviews?

[LACtdom]

Even though this series is a best of 3 now, I still consider this a must win because we don't want our elimination game to be held in SA. Let's win this game. play with everything we got in SA and worst case scenario we come back home for game 7.

[Akklaim1]

Get ready for more Hack-A-DJ. I think there's a couple of rules that need to be added to totally minimize this p-word way of "defending." 1, the next player to commit the intentional foul has to be the same player that did the last one (unless he was substituted). And if there's an offensive rebound after a missed FT, the defensive team cannot hack.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/593189082357964800[/tweet]
[instagram]https://instagram.com/p/2CVByawsvk/[/instagram]

[13ringsruling]

Get ready for more Hack-A-DJ. I think there's a couple of rules that need to be added to totally minimize this p-word way of "defending." 1, the next player to commit the intentional foul has to be the same player that did the last one (unless he was substituted). And if there's an offensive rebound after a missed FT, the defensive team cannot hack.

So you reward/protect grown men that get paid millions of dollars to put the ball in the hoop but cant put the ball in the hoop on a consistent basis with nobody guarding them?

Sheesh. Learn how to shoot a free throw and this wouldn't be an issue.

[Ranma]

Get ready for more Hack-A-DJ. I think there's a couple of rules that need to be added to totally minimize this p-word way of "defending." 1, the next player to commit the intentional foul has to be the same player that did the last one (unless he was substituted). And if there's an offensive rebound after a missed FT, the defensive team cannot hack.

So you reward/protect grown men that get paid millions of dollars to put the ball in the hoop but cant put the ball in the hoop on a consistent basis with nobody guarding them?

Sheesh. Learn how to shoot a free throw and this wouldn't be an issue.

I agree that bad free-throw shooters should not be protected, but the strategy employed by other teams to intentionally foul off the ball is ridiculous and not at all what the game was intended to be. I'm not sure what the solution should be, but if you foul someone driving to the basket without going for the ball, then it is a flagrant foul. Why can't something like that be applied to fouling someone who isn't even in the play?

[Quake Griffin]

I havent opined on the subject much but college has the intentional foul rule. Refs confer on when to call it.
You intentionally foul a player off the ball, one FT by the person of the FT shooting team's choice plus the ball.

Takes hack-a-anybody off the table.
Keeps hacking DeAndre while going up for a dunk on the table.
Still able to wrestle and foul off ball while jockeying for position.

There's no angry people at the rule.
Just people who WERE saying, "make your FTs."

[Quake Griffin]

btw, never got mad at the rule….in my own head, I'm typically in the "make ur FTs"/ "it doesnt work" camp.

But we had a mini-fast break/ Secondary break in either Game 2 or Game 4 and it got stopped because they hacked DeAndre.
And it worked…play stopped…Dre shot 2 FTs.


I remember Blake intentionally fouled a passer on a break and they got two FTs. Toronto was in a much better position to score than we were in the play I mentioned above, but still….we should be protected from some bull like that.

[mkwest]

[instagram]https://instagram.com/p/2COJ8srzUA/[/instagram]

Game 5 Mood!! Staples Center need to be rockin 2nite!!! #RingorBust S/O @artmobb #TheGOAT!! U either ride w/Us or collide w/Us.. Is as simple as that 4 me & my .....!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/593169083475959808[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/593201248695910401[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/593205459655393281[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/593203915023224833[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/593204563215155200[/tweet]

24 Seconds With…Blake Griffin

You’ve had double-digit rebounds all series. Did you make that a focus coming into the playoffs?

BG: “Coming into this series, it was a big thing, rebounding. (Sunday), in particular, with (DeAndre Jordan) being off the court for stretches there in the third and fourth, that’s just kind of what we needed. Baby (Glen Davis) was doing a great job of keeping Tim Duncan off the boards, so somebody has to go get it. Everybody blocked out and a lot of times I was guarding (Boris) Diaw and (Matt) Bonner, who are more around the perimeter, so I just had the opportunity.

Your rebounding and assists are both up. Is there anything else you’ve made a focal point?

BG: That’s just one of those things that you kind of read what the defense gives you. (Chris Paul) draws a lot of attention, so when he comes off of it, it’s my job to facilitate after that. Passing is always a point of emphasis, but I think defense and rebounding are two of the biggest things I’ve locked in on for this series.”

You said you can’t afford to drop the sense of desperation this late in a series. Does it take that desperation to find out who a team really is?

BG: “I think through some trials and when your back’s against the wall, you do find out a little bit about who you are. But you can also show that with how you handle success. We’d much rather not have to deal with those trials, but I do think it does show you a little bit about yourself when you do handle that.”

Rowan Kavner, Clippers.com

[mkwest]

What team had pracice during the interviews?

The interviews were after the Clippers' practice yesterday.

So you reward/protect grown men that get paid millions of dollars to put the ball in the hoop but cant put the ball in the hoop on a consistent basis with nobody guarding them?

Sheesh. Learn how to shoot a free throw and this wouldn't be an issue.

On the other hand, is it okay to reward/bail out grown men that get paid millions of dollars who should be able to play defense? A foul is a penalty against the fouling team, but in this instance it is more of a reward.

The original 2 minute rule was put in place because teams were off-ball fouling Chamberlain late at the end of games. It was seen as a problem then and a rule was put into place to address it. Teams nowadays exploit the loophole all throughout the game. If it's illegal to intentionally foul off-ball players at the end of games, why should it not be illegal the rest of the game?

[Neddy]

The original 2 minute rule was put in place because teams were off-ball fouling Chamberlain late at the end of games. It was seen as a problem then and a rule was put into place to address it. Teams nowadays exploit the loophole all throughout the game. If it's illegal to intentionally foul off-ball players at the end of games, why should it not be illegal the rest of the game?

you know what?
I did not know that. thanks MK. I had no clue that 2 minute rule was from Wilt's era and why. I don't recall this ever being deployed until Shaq was drafted and always thought it was from then. I actually learned a piece of history today because of you.

thank you.

[kylem4711]

What the hell. Is this game not on prime ticket? Not coming up ony guide

[TucsonClip]

Some interesting tactics to keep an eye on early tonight.

1. I think Pop starts Kawhi on Redick again. Shutting him down early is key for both teams. We have played well all season when Redick gets going early. Additionally, Kawhi on Redick closes off the weakside of the floor and allows the Spurs to key on CP3 and Blake PNRs.

Doubt Pop keeps him there all game, as Parker has been unable to stick with CP3. Green and Kawhi are gonna defend him most of the game. They have no choice.

2. Our coverages on Parker are crucial. When we have been successful we have allowed Parker to drive, but stuck to the strong side wings and Duncan. That leaves us vulnerable to the classic Spurs hammer play and their back picks, but it seemed to work. Forcing Parker to score at the rim help take away us having to scramble our rotations and running shooters off the weak side.

3. Blake. We need to keep him out of foul trouble and get him involved on the block, duck ins, cuts, cross screens, ect. Get him the ball down low and make the Spurs recover with his passing/defend him in the paint.

4. Will we see Cory Joseph in to pickup Paul full court? That could slow our tempo down a bit, as Joseph is good defensively.

5. Matt Barnes. He is due. He is WAY overdue. We need him finishing at the rim, crashing the glass to prevent offensive rebounds and hitting some open 3s.

I feel good about this game, but our defense needs to be there.

[Neddy]

What the hell. Is this game not on prime ticket? Not coming up ony guide

try TNT