John B.
Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio Spurs (-4, 204.5 o/u)
One day, Father Time will come a-calling for Tim Duncan. But, as Aragorn roared at the Black Gate, “it is not this day.” The 39-year-old center proved he still has ample game on Wednesday when he scored 28 points and added 11 rebounds to lead the San Antonio Spurs (56-28, 33-8 home) to a 111-107 OT win over the Los Angeles Clippers (57-27, 26-15 away), evening their best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
“He was spectacular,” said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. “He continues to amaze me with the things that he is able to do. He knows he had to stay on the court and he figured out a way to do it. He continued to be aggressive, which is pretty amazing.”
The Spurs covered the spread as 1.5-point dogs, but it wasn’t all good news for San Antonio in Game 2. While Duncan was dominating, point guard Tony Parker was suffering from an Achilles injury and went 0/6 from the floor in 29 minutes of action.
As of now Parker is listed as probable for tonight’s game. But even if he suits up, he’s not likely to be at full capacity, which has the team worried.
“[I’m] very concerned,” Duncan said. “I hope he’s able to play and play well for us. We need him for that. He’s a big part of what we do, obviously. So him not at 100 percent hurts us.”
As for the Clippers, the team – more specifically DeAndre Jordan – really struggled from the free-throw line, which allowed the Spurs to stay in the game. The Clippers were 20/37 from the stripe as a team, while Jordan was just 6/17.
Blake Griffin put up a triple-double, scoring 29 points and adding 12 rebounds and 11 assists. But he also committed three costly turnovers that had him dejected after the game.
“You know, that game is pretty much 100-percent on me,” Griffin said. “I’ve just got to take care of the ball. We’ve got to change some things around. But it’s about the spirit we played with, and I expect us to come out with the right spirit on Friday night.”
As for tonight’s game, the trends say take the under (204.5); the Clippers are 38-44-2 o/u, while the Spurs are 40-44 o/u.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (RO9A3690) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped.)
