The Spurs, winners of 2 in a row (on the road, no less, where they are now 9-14 and have Pop tied with Pat Riley for most road wins all-time), head home to the AT&T Center to take on a struggling Los Angeles Clippers team that was one of the surprise stories of the early season, even holding the #1 seed out West for a moment. With a record of 2-1 against them, the last a 122-111 victory in Los Angeles, the Spurs will be looking to lock up the season series. Los Angeles Clippers (24-21) vs. San Antonio Spurs (27-20) January 20, 2019 | 6:00 PM CT Listen: WOAI | Watch: FSSW Spurs Injuries: Dejounte Murray (torn ACL — out), DeMar DeRozan (ankle - probable) Clippers Injuries: Danilo Gallinari (back spasms - out), Lou Williams (hamstring - questionable), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (knee — questionable) More Derrick White So, Derrick White has been phenomenal the last 10 games: Derrick White has now scored 15+ points in 7 of the last 10 games. — Jordan Howenstine (@AirlessJordan) January 19, 2019 In 9 games this month, White is averaging 15 points a game on 63/48/72 shooting from the field to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The young man is finally getting the opportunity that we thought he would get after showing out in the Summer League. Finally healthy and in a rhythm, White has helped change the defensive identity of this team, while also contributing much-needed playmaking and shot-making on the offensive end. Watch how he attacks Dario Saric on this closeout Friday night: Creating Off Close Outs 101. Derrick White pic.twitter.com/TcASfx5gbj — Eric Salinas (@EricSal_7) January 19, 2019 As much as he’s done, though, the Spurs need more from White. He didn’t take another shot in the game Friday night until the 4:18 mark of the 4th quarter. Going forward, that cannot happen. DeRozan dealing with some wear-and-tear DeMar DeRozan missed Friday’s game with an ankle injury that he suffered during the Mavericks game on Wednesday night. Pop has pointed out the amount of minutes that DeRozan has played so far this season as well, saying after Friday’s game in Minnesota: “He’s been playing a lot of minutes, more than most people,” said Popovich. “It seemed like it was better to have his body recover tonight.” DeRozan has had a dreadful month of January so far in terms of scoring the ball and ball security, averaging just 16 points a game on just 40% shooting and nearly 4 turnovers a game. More ball-handling from White will hopefully ease the load that DeRozan will have to deal with going forward, but it would be nice to see the Spurs run some plays that spring him open for some wide-open jumpers from his favorite spots on the floor. It feels like everything that they run for him is with the purpose of getting him the ball in positions where he can dribble his man to death and either make a tough shot or find teammates that are open because of the gravity he controls. Appropriate Fear The Spurs more or less crushed Los Angeles in their last two meetings, the first one a 38-point shellacking during their 6-game homestand that saw them start to put it all together, followed up by the 11-point win in Los Angeles at the end of December. The two teams have trended in opposite directions since, with San Antonio continuing to work their way up the playoff ladder, while the Clippers have slowly tailed off and slid down the standings. Losers of 5 in a row, the most recent coming against the Warriors with a seemingly healthy Boogie Cousins, the Clippers will be hungry for a win tonight to right the ship, but may find it hard to find the scoring needed to do that without the services of Danilo Gallinari and (possibly) that of 6th Man of the Year candidate Lou Williams. The Spurs would be wise to not take them lightly tonight, struggles and all. Vegas Line: Spurs by 4.5 Game Prediction: Spurs by 10 For the visitor’s perspective, please check out Clips Nation. PtR’s Gamethread will be up this evening for those who want to chat through the game. You can also follow along with the action through PtR’s Twitter feed.<doc-sep>The Spurs played from behind all night despite one very brief lead in the first quarter. LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 30 and 19 points, respectively. However, they could not seem to get over the hump often due to their inconsistency and sloppiness on offense and the Clippers’ resiliency. Roundup: The Spurs dug an early hole due to a few sloppy turnovers. Once the Spurs reserves came in, however, they were able to take a brief lead. Regardless the Clippers ended up leading 38-26 at the end of the first because they were shooting almost 70% and the Spurs had trouble stopping them. The second quarter started the same way: Spurs turnovers and Clippers high percentage shooting. Every time it seemed the Spurs would claw their way back, the Clippers would answer with a run of their own. Fortunately, they would only find themselves down 7 as the Clippers led 60-53 at half. The Spurs’ starters were able to keep the Clippers from scoring for almost the first 5 minutes of the third quarter, but turnovers took some of the wind out of their comeback efforts. Similar to the first half, the Clippers matched every Spurs threat to go on a run with a run of their own. The end of the third was no different as they trailed by 7 yet again. Turnovers continued to plague the good guys as they tried to scratch their way into the Clippers’ at-arms-length lead. Despite being the league leader in taking care of the ball all season, the Spurs could not get any traction tonight against the short-handed Clippers. In the end, the Spurs lost a winnable game against a more focused Clippers squad. Aimless Observations: DeMar DeRozan returned to the lineup. His legs looked fresh. Hopefully his shot follows suit soon enough. returned to the lineup. His legs looked fresh. Hopefully his shot follows suit soon enough. The Clippers had three key players out, but that didn’t seem to matter because they played smart throughout. The Clippers’ jersey sponsor, Bumble, would like to remind us that Valentine’s Day is around the corner judging by the many ads I also saw during the game. DeRozan and the Foreign Legion part deux remains my favorite lineup. They are so fun to watch. Between his timely threes and soft touch around the rim, Derrick White continues to impress. continues to impress. Rudy Gay has been on a tear since coming back from his 5-game absence. His game is very efficient, and his defensive presence has been key. The most important things in life are worth fighting for and worth remembering. Patty Mills and the Spurs’ touching tribute for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a reminder of why I love this team. Tune In Next Time: San Antonio travels Philadelphia to take on the 76ers on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 7:00 PM CDT.<doc-sep>The LA Clippers ended their five-game losing streak with a near wire-to-wire victory against the San Antonio Spurs, winning 103-95 and earning a split in the season series against another Western Conference playoff hopeful in the process. This was one of the most impressive wins of the year for the Clippers, who were on the road without Lou Williams and Danilo Gallinari after having not won a game in nearly two weeks. Short-handed against a talented opponent, LA came out with a ton of energy on both ends of the floor in the first quarter, building a lead that the team would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. Tobias Harris and Patrick Beverley — starting for the first time since Nov. 18 — were the stars for the Clippers. Harris led the way with 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting, playing a whopping 43 minutes. Perhaps more impressively, Harris had a career-best 9 assists, taking a larger playmaking role due to LA’s compromised depth. Harris opened the game with 12 points as he played the entire first period and helped the Clippers get off to a strong start. Beverley was a defensive menace and also contributed his trademark energy to start the contest. He pressured Spurs starters Derrick White and Bryn Forbes into seven turnovers and continues to stuff the stat sheet. Beverley finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, as well as no turnovers. No player 6-foot-1 or shorter has matched Patrick Beverley’s line tonight over the past 25 seasons: 18 pts, 12 rebs, 5 asts, 4 stls, 1 blk (per the Clippers). — Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 21, 2019 The Clippers changed their starting lineup, forced to play Beverley in place of Gallinari, but electing to start Montrezl Harrell for the first time this season. Harrell is the team’s best offensive center by a mile, and unsurprisingly, LA got off to a good scoring start. For a team that has struggled out of the gate frequently recently, this was a good way of resetting the deck. Beverley and Avery Bradley did a good job of getting Harrell involved early, as they changed their offensive attack to involve the center in a way the Clippers don’t normally do when Marcin Gortat or Boban Marjanovic starts. Harrell had some foul trouble, and wasn’t a perfect cover on LaMarcus Aldridge, but he was mostly a positive contributor, something LA hasn’t had at the five in awhile. Aldridge finished with 30 points and 14 rebounds, but didn’t seem to dominate the action like he has in previous meetings. He only finished with two assists, not really able to generate offense for his teammates. Without Gallinari and Williams, the Clippers had to improve their defense, and they mostly did. It went unnoticed against Golden State because LA had so much difficulty scoring, but the Clippers were pretty solid defensively against the Warriors and continued that effort today. They forced 18 turnovers, allowed only 10 offensive rebounds, and only conceded 17 free throws to San Antonio. The team was more physical than it has been in the past few weeks, a criticism Doc Rivers had of LA in the last matchup against the Spurs. The starters did the heavy lifting, sparked by Beverley’s aggression, but Rivers changed the rotation to emphasize toughness and grittiness off the bench as well, playing Johnathan Motley and Sindarius Thornwell more than any other reserves. Motley struggled in his first real regulation minutes Friday, but he redeemed himself quite nicely in San Antonio. He ran the floor hard, competed on defense, and finished with 10 points and four rebounds, though he did turn the ball over four times. Thornwell also brought strong defensive intensity and was a plus-13 in about 10 minutes of playing time. Avery Bradley had a strong offensive start with 15 first-half points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his aggressive streak and took 15 shots, but he only hit three for seven points. Last week, Rivers remarked that the team had forgotten how to finish games after performing well in close games to start the season. When the Spurs made their run, the Clippers always had a response. When they needed a bucket, Harris was there. When they needed a stop and a rebound to close a possession, Beverley was there. LA will have to utilize a new formula to win games in the absence of its usual offensive firepower. In the midst of a skid that could have sent the team spiraling, the Clippers buckled down and delivered their lowest-scoring win of the season. This has been a resilient group throughout the year, and it was good to see that resurface in a tough road environment.<doc-sep>
Game Information: Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX When: 4:00 PST How to watch: Fox Sports Prime Ticket, AM 570 Projected Starting Lineups: LA Clippers: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, Marcin Gortat San Antonio Spurs: Derrick White, Bryn Forbes, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge Injuries: Clippers: Luc Mbah a Moute (sore left knee) - OUT, Lou Williams (sore right hamstring) - OUT, Danilo Gallinari (back spasms) - DOUBTFUL Spurs: Dejounte Murray (right knee) - OUT, DeMar DeRozan (left ankle) - PROBABLE The Big Picture: The Clippers have lost five games in a row, and things are getting worse. Lou Williams re-aggravated a hamstring injury Wednesday against the Utah Jazz, and Danilo Gallinari experienced back spasms Friday against the Golden State Warriors, with both players missing the majority of the game. Now, LA is facing some real depth questions. Williams and Gallinari are two of the team’s three leading scorers and two of the better playmakers, which is reflected in the fact that they have the highest offensive ratings among LA’s regular rotation players. The last time the Clippers were without Gallinari, when he was ill on a road trip, they turned to a three-guard starting lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Avery Bradley, and Pat Beverley. Without Williams on the bench, however, Doc Rivers may be loath to expend so much of his guard depth in the starting unit. Other than Mike Scott, Ty Wallace might be a potential starter, as he has the requisite size to guard DeMar DeRozan. However, whichever way the Clippers go, they are starting behind the eight-ball against one of the best offenses in the league. That’s especially troubling since LA has struggled so much on the defensive end in the last six weeks. The Antagonist: The Spurs play the Clippers for the fourth time this season, having won the last two matchups handily after losing a close contest in LA in November. San Antonio presents the worst possible challenge for the Clippers because the Spurs have a big man who can score efficiently, and LaMarcus Aldridge ate up the LA bigs back in the teams’ last meeting. After the Dec. 29 game, Doc Rivers said, “I didn’t think we played well the entire game. I honestly felt like they had more energy. They were far more physical than us. I think the last two times we’ve played them, they’ve been the far more physical team.” The Clippers mostly single-covered Aldridge in that matchup, but then started to mix up their coverages as they faced a series of offensively potent big men, including Joel Embiid, Nikola Vucevic, and Blake Griffin. Doubling hasn’t gone as well for LA as the team would like, but without Gallinari to start on Aldridge, the Clippers may be forced to concede that one-on-one defense will benefit the San Antonio All-Star. Montrezl Harrell had a particularly difficult time against Aldridge back in December, mainly due to the size disparity between the two players. “[Aldridge] is a very skilled player, but you gotta make him uncomfortable, simple as that,” Harrell said after the Dec. 29 loss. “He’s like four inches over me, at the same time I’m contesting the shot, but you’re contesting a guy who shoots a spin-around jump shot and he shoots from behind his head, so it’s not really having an effect on him.” Clip Notes: Gilgeous-Alexander had his best game in some time against the Warriors, and he figures to have free reign of the offense once more with Williams sidelined. The Clippers will need him to continue to be aggressive attacking the paint so that he can play-make for his teammates off of his drives. Boban Marjanovic started the last time these teams played, but he really doesn’t belong in this game unless he’s guarding Pau Gasol . started the last time these teams played, but he really doesn’t belong in this game unless he’s guarding . Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverley finished a combined 3-of-17 against Golden State, including missing all six of their threes. LA desperately needs more offensive production to beat the Spurs, starting with its veteran backcourt. and finished a combined 3-of-17 against Golden State, including missing all six of their threes. LA desperately needs more offensive production to beat the Spurs, starting with its veteran backcourt. That scoring could come from Jerome Robinson and Johnathan Motley , who played real rotation minutes Friday and both looked capable of getting buckets.