Except Duncan made it.
Duncan’s
sloppy, falling layup-y thing came with about six minutes left in the
San Antonio Spurs’ 108-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in Tuesday’s
Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. It was part of a 26-point,
10-rebound performance, leading a Spurs team that shot 49 percent, made
13 3-pointers and won its 15th in a row — the longest streak continued
in the playoffs since the 2004 Spurs won 17 straight.
“He’s the anchor,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
Duncan
was the superior power forward in the game, and how many times has that
been true? There may already be a transition, one of those proverbial
torch passings, with another big man taking his place as the best in the
West or the NBA or of all time, or however you see Duncan. But there
was none of that Tuesday, and Griffin was not that torch receiver.
The
Big Fundamental, at 36, has experienced a significant decline in his
production. But if there’s a playoff series to be won or a young
challenger to be put back in his place, Duncan still can fundamental it
up for 34 minutes.
“He’s not gonna do anything that’s gonna be
on a highlight film for TV,” Popovich said. “A highlight film for
coaches, possibly.”
Intentional or not, that statement painted a
contrast with Griffin and the “Lob City” crew from Los Angeles, which
has constructed an identity out of a thousand dunks, mostly Griffin’s.
He was not bad Tuesday, getting 15 points and nine rebounds despite
suffering from a banged-up knee he hurt during the previous series.
It
was difficult to say just how much that mattered — Clippers coach Vinny
Del Negro said both Griffin and point guard Chris Paul were giving
“what they’ve got” after a bruising seven-game series with Memphis.
Maybe if Griffin were 100 percent and he jumped a little higher or moved
a little more quickly, those flailing, plan-less spasms he calls post
moves would work. Maybe not.
In any case, as they say in
sports, if you’re out there, you have to perform. Although Griffin put
together a presentable box score, at no point did it appear that if the
Clippers needed a basket, they could toss it to Griffin and reasonably
expect to get one.
Rather, L.A.’s best offense was to find
Caron Butler or Eric Bledsoe and hope for the best. Bledsoe had 23
points in 26 minutes off the bench, and Butler’s 3-point shooting in the
third quarter momentarily delayed the oncoming clinic.
The
Spurs got ahead by 12 early in the second half, and even though they
kept scoring, Butler hit a couple of 3s to get the spread back to eight
with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Include a second-quarter
stretch in which Bledsoe got a steal and scored three consecutive
baskets, and you can see the kind of trouble the Clippers would have
been in without those two.
For reasons he either couldn’t or
wouldn’t explain, Paul went 3-for-13 for six points, failing to make a
shot in the second half, and committed five turnovers. Afterward he told
his young son “Daddy had a bad game.” He said his hip was just fine.
“I feel like I got every shot that I wanted,” Paul said. “I just didn’t make them.”
The Clippers may play better in the coming games. But something was established — no, reaffirmed — Tuesday. Something old.
Griffin
was 9 years old when Duncan played his first NBA game. The first NBA
game he can remember seeing was a Spurs game, actually, and he’s been
looking up to Duncan ever since.
“I’ve watched him play for a long, long time,” Griffin said. “He’s definitely somebody you want to model your game after.”
