Expect the Clippers’ offense to bounce back
Apr 24, 2015; San Antonio, TX, USA; Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) dribbles against San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (L) in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
The Spurs may be the defending champions, but just as we saw from them in game one, every team has bad shooting nights. They only made 36.6 percent of their shots and proceeded to get dominated by the Clippers’ dynamic duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin all game long. However, as they have proved since then, they can easily turn their offense around.
If the Clippers want to fight back into this series with some authority tonight, it will be their league best offense that will give them their best chance of ending the night standing at 2-2.
Paul and Griffin had a hard time in game three, and tallied just 21 points after they combined for 58 in game one. The also made more than 50 percent of their shots to begin this series, compared to making only 9 shots on 26 attempts in their latest game. If that continues, this series is over.
But don’t think that’s the case just yet.
Similarly to how the Spurs’ offense has bounced back since game one, by increasing their field goal percentage by 16 percent in game three, the Clippers should be able to rediscover their talents on offense.
San Antonio still struggle with stopping Blake at the rim, Jordan can still pick up easy dunks in the paint, Paul can score at an exceptional rate from mid range and J.J. Redick can shoot lights out from behind the arc. They had the league’s best offense for a reason this year, and no matter who imposing the Spurs looked in game three, don’t discount the Clippers so easily.
If — and that’s a big “if” — they can do what they do best and drop a flurry of three-pointers and dunk away with Griffin and Jordan tonight, game four will be far closer than the last.