San Antonio Spurs’ Tough Defense Restrains LA Clippers, 107-97

San Antonio Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, inflicting Doc Rivers’ team their sixth loss of the season. The final result was 107-97 for the five-time champions.

In his second comeback to San Antonio since leaving the AT&T Center, Kawhi Leonard received booes each time he touched the ball, and the crowd wildly cheered following his every missed shot. The NBA Finals MVP was restrained to just 19 points, with a poor shooting percentage, 9 for 23 from the field. Apart from that, the Claw had 7 boards, 7 assists, and two steals. When the game ended, he didn’t have any grudges against the public, and tried not to try a big issue of it.

“I didn’t make nothing of it. Felt like a normal away game,” he said.

Kawhi Leonard does in fact get booed during #Clippers starting lineups…but crowd less amped than last season. #ksatsports #ksatnews #NBA pic.twitter.com/EkMar4AnLj

— RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) November 30, 2019

Up until the early part of the third period, both sides were leveled, but Derrick White’s back-to-back threes sparked a 15-2 run for the hosts. At the end of the third quarter, the hosts had a double-digit advantage, 82-71.

“I though they got into us,took us off rhythm. no dribble penetration tonight, we were really slow,” Rivers explained the reasons of his team’s loss.” Unless we’ re just going to win on a defensive battle I didn’t see it coming honestly.”

The Spurs continued in the same manner, and after LaMarcus Aldridge’s points with exactly four minutes to go, the home team reached its maximum lead in this contest, 105-86. Clippers didn’t have a solution on how to stop the diverse Spurs’ offense, and furthermore, they were helpless offensively. They would end the night with 39.1% shooting from the field, 36 for 92. Also, the team who is leading the league in free-throw attempts had just 13 in this one.

“I think LA and Jacob did great at the rim,” said coach Popovich. “I think a lot of people played good D across the board. We had a lot of good energy, a lot of activity from a lot of guys.”

San Antonio was using the slightest mistakes of their opponents. What was a big weapon in this game for the home team in this event, were the fast break points, 22-6. The Spurs had six players with 10 or more points in the lineup tonight. Aldridge and White had 17 each, with the big fella posting 8 boards and 7 assists, and superb 4 blocks. White dropped five three-pointers.

DeRozan added 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Patty Mills scored 13 off the bench. Bryn Forbes had 12 and Trey Lyles 10.

Among the Clippers, JaMychal Green was the only one in the mood for helping Kawhi with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Pat Beverly had 10, and Montrezl Harrell scored 12. Paul George and Lou Williams utterly failed to meet the expectations, as they scored 12 points combined. George had 5, hitting only 2 of his 11 field-goal attempts, and Williams was 2 for 10.

The Clippers (14-6) snapped a seven-game winning streak, but are still among the top teams in the Western Conference. They are facing the Washington Wizards next, at Staples, this Sunday. Following that, they meet the Blazers and then head on a six-game road trip.

The Spurs (7-13) regained a little bit of their lost confidence with this victory. The situation in the locker room is not good at all, and rumors about Popovich’s intention to enter the process of the rebuild are getting louder and louder. San Antonio plays their second of back-to-back nights already tomorrow against the Pistons in Detroit and comes back home following that for a three-game homestand.