Let's review the things I said would have to happen for the Clippers to have a chance in San Antonio, shall we?
- Brand will have to have a big game (and Kaman will have to not suck)
Elton scored 10 points and had 3 rebounds, after back to back 30+ outings. Kaman was worse than useless in the first quarter, missing three easy shots very badly, and being beaten repeatedly by Duncan on the other end.
- At least one other Clipper will have to have a big game
The leading scorer was Livingston with 16. It is the second lowest high score for the team this year, better only than Tim Thomas' 15 in the debacle against Seattle.
- Ross et al will have to keep Parker from having a big game
This item doesn't even make sense anymore. Ross didn't start, and never guarded Parker while I was watching. Parker, for his part, had a huge game, but not like any huge game he's ever had. He dished for a career high 15 assists in 30 minutes. 12 assists came in the first half when the Spurs built a 22 point lead. Somehow, he transformed into John Stockton for one night. Threading beautiful bounce passes to Duncan off the pick and roll, distributing to everyone from Brent Barry to Francisco Elson, and completely ignoring his own shot.
- The Clippers can't get destroyed from beyond the arc
The Spurs shot 10 for 24 from the arc, including 7 of their first 12. The Clippers went 2 for 4, with both makes coming in the 4th quarter after the game was long over. That's a minus 24, if you don't have your calculator handy.
I didn't even watch the whole game. That's the first time I've stopped watching a Clippers game in awhile. I had it on the TiVo, watched until halftime, and then jumped ahead to 2 minutes left and saw they were down 34. No real reason to watch at that point.
The Spurs outscored the Clippers by 11, 11 and 9 in the first 3 quarters. They dominated the game from start to finish.
No team in the NBA was going to beat the Spurs on this night. It would have been nice to put up more of a fight, but it actually counts the same in the standings (except in that DIFF column which went into the dreaded red).
Forget it. Move on to Memphis. The good news is that the Grizz lost in Milwaukee, and actually have further to travel for tomorrow night's game than the Clippers do. We NEED to win that game. Memphis and Portland are the only road games against teams with losing records until 2007. Lose in Memphis and the road story could get really ugly.