Clippers Thrash Spurs, Ruin Wembanyama's Hollywood Premiere
The Clippers never broke a sweat in their second win of the season.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The LA Clippers welcomed the San Antonio Spurs and phenom No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama to town on Sunday evening just miles from the famed Hollywood sign. Unfortunately for the Spurs and their franchise-altering big man, it had to feel like they were stuck in a horror film.
Wembanyama, try as he might, couldn’t topple the Clippers or their defense as the big man finished the game with 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting from the field en route to a 123-83 defeat in Los Angeles. Wembanyama also had five turnovers. But there were highlights, including a tipped alley-oop through traffic for an impressive basket.
The Clippers played the role of the infamous boogyman, stifling the Spurs and making life tougher than San Antonio had hoped during a dominant victory in front of their home fans.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting. Leonard’s fellow superstar running mate Paul George chipped in with 19 points, five assists, four rebounds, and five steals.
“The defense was great,” Leonard said after the game.
“37 [percent] on field goals, 33 percent from three, and then they only had six offensive rebounds. So, it's a lot better than the last game we played. Not letting the Jazz shoot 20 more times than us, so tonight we limit them to one-chance shots and it was good.”
George was a dominant force early in the game. All five steals by George on Sunday night came in the first seven minutes of the game. Afterwards, George was asked about the aggression he’s started this season with on both ends of the floor.
“Well, it's just feeling better, just being healthy and my assignment is to guard the best player, and so I'm not going to let the best player get comfortable. So, that's just aggression — come out, make it like hell for whoever the best player that I'm matched up with and try to create extra possessions.”
George has started off the season in style, averaging 27.3 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.7 rebounds on 54.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.1 percent from deep across the three contests. It's the type of thing the Clippers need out of George, a player who clearly feels back to his healthy self after dealing with injuries since arriving to the Clippers.
The story going into the game, though, was Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama.
The crowd came out to see him, but the display put forth by both him and San Antonio was lackluster to say the least. San Antonio turned the ball over 25 times resulting in 34 Clippers points. It’s the most turnovers by a Clippers opponent since Oct. 25, 2021, when the Portland Trail Blazers coughed the ball up 30 times in a 30-point loss.
Bones Hyland added 18 points off the bench and Norman Powell chipped in with 13. Four of the five Clippers starters scored in double-figures, with Robert Covington the lone player to not scratch on the scoresheet. But that doesn’t mean his effort and performance went unnoticed.
“I just told the team after the game, RoCo took one shot, scored zero points, was a plus-25, and didn't make one face about getting shots,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said during his postgame media session.
“And so, we know it's going to be somebody different every night. We know PG and Kawhi are going to have the ball in their hands a lot and everybody else is going to be anybody's night. That's what you got to get guys to buy into. Just understand it's all about winning. I thought RoCo was unbelievable tonight, but I thought overall defensively we were really good.”
The Clippers have been an offensive machine in the half-court to start the season. While it’s just three games and against three teams that will most likely finish the season in the lottery, the Clippers are averaging 107.6 points per 100 plays in the half-court so far, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Ivica Zubac finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes but was seen leaving the arena on the back of a cart with a sleeve on his right knee. Zubac “took a knee to his right quad” and should be fine for the team’s upcoming back-to-back set against the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, per The Athletic’s Law Murray.
The Clippers shot 51.6 percent from the field and made 16 of their 42 three-pointers. If you're looking for blemishes on the ledger, you can point to turnovers (16) and free throws (13 makes on 21 attempts).
There’s still a lot of work for the Clippers to nail down as the season sits in its infancy, but through three games the team has looked like it has the makings of one that could be serious about their need to take the regular season with greator earnesty.
While the loss in Utah on Friday night soured them, they didn’t lose the itch to get back out on the floor and redeem themselves.
“One thing about the NBA, you get a day or two to get over it and then right back tonight,” guard Russell Westbrook said postgame. “So tonight was a good bounce back game for all of us and now we got to get ready for Tuesday.”
The Clippers led by 19 at halftime, 33 after three quarters, and won by 40.
Good bounce back game indeed.
The LA Clippers (2-1) will meet the Orlando Magic (2-0) on Tuesday night in Los Angeles as the Magic will be on the second night of a back-to-back after playing the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.