Game 27 Preview: Stops at 13?

LA CLIPPERS (12-14) vs SA SPURS (14-10)

Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio TX

When: Monday, December 21 @ 5:30 PM PST

TV: Prime Ticket / Radio: KFWB980AM and 1330AM in Spanish

Clippers: 1-game winning streak, 4th Pacific Division, 12th Western Conference

Spurs: 2-game winning streak, 3rd Southwest Division, 8th Western Conference

After blowing a 20-point leadto the hapless Knicks the Clippers survived a waived off shot by Andre Iguodala to win in overtime against the 76ers. They are 2-1 so far on this 6-game road trip but are hitting the tough part of the trip. The first three games were against the Timberwolves, Knicks and Sixersand the next three are against the Spurs, Rockets (back-to-back) and the Suns. Three teams with playoff potential.

Tonight they play a team they lost to a week ago by 25 points. A team they haven’t beaten in 13 straight games. The Spurs playing style is difficult for the Clippers to match up with. The Spurs are a great defensive team (even after Bruce Bowen retired) and play methodical enough to keep up with you until you make a mistake. In their last meeting the Spurs new blood provided enough punch that Tim Duncan and Tony Parker didn’t have to carry all the load. Although Duncan scored 21 points to lead the Spurs they also had 6 players in double figures with 3 of them coming off the bench.

Duncan is still the rock on bothsides of the floor for the Spurs. He leads the team in scoring with20.1 PPG and rebounds with10.8 RPG. Tony Parker leads in assists with 5.8 APG. Other notable Spurs the Clipperswill have to contend with is the enigmatic Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, George Hill, Roger Mason and rookie DeJuan Blair.

A big reason why the Spurs have won the last 13 games against the Clippers is their bench out plays the Clipper bench. The Spurs bench leads the NBA in scoring (42.2 PPG) and rebounds (17 RPG) while the Clipper bench ranks among the lowest in the NBA.

The Clippers have been playing better as a team except for the stretches where they forget to play hard as a team. They can’t give the Spurs even one bad quarter because with the defense that the Spurs play it is hard to score in bunches enough to make up large deficits. But this is a Spurs team that is struggling with it’s own inconsistencies so the Clippers better play hard throughout.

The Clippers are led by Chris Kaman in scoring with19.3 PPG, Baron Davis in assists with 7.5 APG and Marcus Cambyin rebounds with 11.7 RPG. Eric Gordon is also playing with the old explosiveness he had before sitting out a few games with a strained groin. Gordon needs to put pressure on the Spurs defense and at least hit for his 18.1 PPG average.

Tags: Andre Iguodala, Baron Davis, Bruce Bowen, Chris Kaman, DeJuan Blair, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Marcus Camby, Richard Jefferson, Roger Mason, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker