NBA News Wire
Spurs 113, Clippers 103
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
LOS ANGELES — With injured San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker sitting out Tuesday night, Patty Mills filled the void in a big way.
Mills came off the bench to score 18 of his 25 points in the second half as the Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 113-103 at Staples Center.
The Spurs (39-15) snapped a three-game win streak by the Clippers (37-19) and handed Los Angeles a rare home defeat. Los Angeles is 23-5 at Staples. San Antonio has the NBA’s best road mark, 21-7.
Mills connected on nine of 15 shots from the floor. He also had five rebounds and five assists. Guard Marco Belinelli added 20 points, forward Tim Duncan had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and forward Danny Green chipped in 14 points. Mills outscored the entire Clippers’ bench, which accounted for 20 points.
Forward Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 35 points and 12 rebounds, while guard Jamal Crawford finished with 25 points. Chris Paul scored 11 points and handed out nine assists, but the point guard missed nine of his 10 shots from the field. Center DeAndre Jordan added 18 rebounds and six blocks.
The Spurs took an 86-76 lead on a jumper by Mills less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. Mills’ 3-pointer with 8:46 left pushed the advantage to 93-81. Los Angeles cut the lead to six on a Crawford trey with 5:17 remaining, but they got no closer as Mills and the Spurs pulled away.
The Spurs converted nine of 20 attempts from behind the arc, with Belinelli hitting three of six. The Clippers hit only six of 21 from 3-point range.
San Antonio took a 56-51 lead at the break, ending the half on a 14-3 run.
Griffin topped 6,000 points in his career during the first half. He is one of eight active players to score 6,000 before the end of his fourth season.
The clubs split their previous meetings, with Los Angeles rolling to a 115-92 victory on Dec. 16 and the Spurs coasting to a 116-92 win on Jan. 4. That was the Clippers’ worst defeat this season.
NOTES: After former coach George Karl said on ESPN he heard this might be the final season for Spurs F Tim Duncan, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said he could confirm nothing about Duncan’s plans. … San Antonio PG Tony Parker, who played 11 minutes in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, is out indefinitely with a variety of injuries. Popovich, who said the wear and tear of the past three seasons took a toll on Parker, wouldn’t speculate when the All-Star would return. … San Antonio F Kawhi Leonard, out since Jan. 22 with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand, performed shooting drills before the contest but isn’t expected to play during the final two games of the road trip. … Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he doesn’t know when G J.J. Redick, who has a bulging disk, will return. “I guess the word would be (when it) calms down so he can get his movement,” Rivers said. “That could be three days, two weeks, three weeks, no one knows.”
