George leads the way as Clippers hold off Spurs
LOS ANGELES >> It wasn’t as easy as hitting the old Easy Button on Tuesday at Staples Center — as it’s called for now — but the Clippers eventually subdued the San Antonio Spurs 106-92 on Tuesday at Staples Center.
With news spreading through the arena – the home of the Clippers and Lakers since 1999 — of a pending announcement that the building soon will be called Crypto.com Arena, the hosts in action held court in front of the 13,298 fans in attendance.
Keyed by Paul George’s 34 points and nine rebounds, the Clippers (9-5) held off Dejounte Murray and the Spurs (4-10), who got within 10 points — 9989 — with two minutes to play.
Nothing’s a given in the NBA, not even a game against a young San Antonio team that had lost five of its past seven games, and nine of 13 overall. The Clippers were stuck at 91 points for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs cut what was a 91-73 lead to 91-82.
But the Clippers outscored Gregg Popovich’s team 15-10 down the stretch.
Undermanned without Terance Mann (ankle), Justise Winslow (personal) as well as Kawhi Leonard (ACL), Marcus Morris Sr. (knee) and Serge Ibaka (G League), the Clippers leaned on their young legs Tuesday.
Amir Coffey, 24, proved an active understudy and Brandon Boston Jr., 19, a fearless offensively inclined rookie — scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
The Clippers’ Amir Coffey, right, drives to the basket as the Spurs’ Drew Eubanks defends during Tuesday’s game.
CLIPPERS 106, SPURS 92
Up next: Clippers at Grizzlies, 5p.m., BSSC
But the Spurs’ 25-year-old Murray wreaked the most havoc of the up-and-comers, though he did most of his damage before halftime, when he scored 20 of his 26 points.
After the break, a veteran made his presence felt.
Guard Reggie Jackson, the Clippers’ 11th-year guard, turned it on in the third quarter, breaking out of an early game funk to score 10 of his 21 points (and grabbed five of his six rebounds) to help the Clippers
regain control, 83-71 entering the final frame.
Victims so often of slow starts, the Clippers built a 25-20 first-quarter lead Tuesday, shooting 11 for 21 from the field, but only 1 for 10 from 3-point range. George got started with nine points — and a couple assists, steals and turnovers.
Back-to-back buckets from Luke Kennard, including a falling-down 3-pointer, gave them a 3526 lead with 8:22 to play second quarter.
The Clippers’ second-period lead grew as large as 12 — 52-40 — before Murray sparked a San Antonio spurt that got the Spurs within two points before they went into the break, trailing 56-53.
George and Murray scored 15 points apiece in a second-quarter duel and went into halftime with 24 and 20 points, respectively.
Eric Bledsoe added 11 points and three steals for the Clippers, who avoided losing two in a row despite turning over the ball 22 times.