Score: LAC 105 – SAS 86
LOS ANGELES – Coming up in the clutch late against the Spurs never seems to be a problem for Chris Paul.
The Clippers needed Paul more than ever Thursday night against the Spurs with Austin Rivers (hand) out for another couple weeks and Pablo Prigioni (illness) unavailable, leaving Paul as the only true point guard available on the roster.
Next Game: 2/20
He didn’t disappoint, leaving the floor to a standing ovation with two minutes left with the game wrapped up as the Clippers (36-18) finished off a 105-86 win against a Spurs team (45-9) coming in with only eight losses all year.
Head coach Doc Rivers said Wednesday he’d need to watch Paul’s minutes after playing him a combined 88 minutes in his previous two games before the break, but he didn’t have much of a choice as shorthanded as the Clippers were Thursday.
Paul finished with 28 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, and combined with DeAndre Jordan’s 17 rebounds and handful of spectacular alley-oop finishes, the Clippers did just enough offensively while thriving defensively.
Jamal Crawford had 19 points and J.J. Redick added 17 points, but the Clippers’ 50 percent shooting masked what was an offensive struggle the majority of the night. The Clippers committed 20 turnovers in the game and had 14 by halftime, yet they still led, 42-34, entering the second half.
They did that by forcing the Spurs to shoot jump shots, and San Antonio struggled to generate anything offensively most of the night, shooting just 34.9 percent in the first half. Tony Parker’s bucket to cut the Clippers’ lead to 30-24 in the second quarter marked the first time all night any member of either team’s starting backcourt scored, but Paul was saving his best for the second half.
