There are two ways in the NBA to gain extra possessions over your opponent – grabbing offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers. The inverse, then, would be limiting opponents’ extra possessions by not turning the ball over or giving up offensive rebounds.
The San Antonio Spurs were leading the Los Angeles Clippers 3-2 early in their matchup on Monday night, but an 18-5 Clippers run, fueled by the Spurs giving the Clippers a generous handful of extra possessions, abruptly put them in a 13 point, 20-7 hole. While they cut this lead to 6 by the end of the 1st quarter, they never fully recovered and ultimately lost the game by 40 points.
Here, we’ll examine how that run came to be and look at how the Spurs can prevent similar stretches in the future.
San Antonio Spurs Film Breakdown
1st Quarter, 9:02 remaining. Spurs 3-2 Clippers
The possession that started the run for the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard started with the ball on the left slot, threw an entry pass to Paul George in the post, and then cut towards the basket and continued towards the right corner. George spun over his right shoulder, giving Keldon Johnson a strong bump, and rose up for a contested one-handed midrange shot.
This was good first-shot defense and would be viewed as a successful possession for the team on that end if they were able to grab the rebound.
Unfortunately, Johnson and Zach Collins didn’t maintain box-outs until the rebound was secured, leaving both George and Ivica Zubac free to grab the offensive board.
George grabbed the rebound and attempted another tough shot, albeit a couple of feet closer, knocked it down, and drew a foul.
1st Quarter, 8:26 remaining. Spurs 3-5 Clippers
On the Clippers next trip down the court, they were able to take advantage of some crossing-matching. Because Collins was on the perimeter guarding Robert Covington, Devin Vassell matched up with Zubac inside. To prevent an easy post-up for Zubac, Vassell fronted him in the post.
Sochan stayed with Russell Westbrook and forced a tough shot on the right side of the rim, but because Vassell had to front Zubac, no one was between Zubac and the basket, giving him inside position for an easy offensive rebound.
Zubac was patient and didn’t force a second attempt. He kicked it out to George who made the extra pass with the closeout coming for an open look for Leonard.
1st Quarter, 8:06 remaining. Spurs 3-10 Clippers
Jeremy Sochan ran a pick-and-roll with Victor Wembanyama as the screener, but Covington did a good job of containing the screen. Sochan picked up his dribble and looked for Vassell, who has shared quite a bit of the burden of offense initiating with Sochan this season. George intercepted the pass to Vassell and converted the turnover into an easy dunk in transition.
1st Quarter, 7:20 remaining. Spurs 5-10 Clippers
Vassell came off of a Collins flare screen to receive the ball from Sochan up top, but George applied heavy pressure and forced the steal. It looked like Vassell never quite had control of the pass, but it’s hard to say how much of that was due to the pass, the catch, or the pressure George was putting on Vassell.
This gave George another easy dunk in transition.
1st Quarter, 6:17 remaining. Spurs 7-14 Clippers
A few possessions later, Collins faked a dribble handoff to Johnson who curled around him towards the basket. Collins tried to find him on this move, but passed about a foot ahead of him. It’s hard to tell from the angle we have if Collins overshot Johnson or if Bones Hyland was able to get a hand on the pass.
George came away with the ball and no Spur defended the rim in transition, resulting in an easy pass to Zubac for a dunk.
1st Quarter, 6:17 remaining. Spurs 7-18 Clippers
In the final possession of the run, the Clippers both force a turnover and grab an offensive rebound to grow their lead to 13.
George was defending a Collins’ post-up and got his hand on the ball, disrupting Collins’ dribble. Collins lost the ball, George picked it up, and rans in transition again.
No one picked up George in transition, giving him an open look from 3. Although George missed this shot, Collins was out of the play due to diving for the ball, allowing Zubac to impose his size at the rim and tip it in.
Lack of Execution for the San Antonio Spurs
In total, the Spurs gave up 8 points off of offensive rebounds and 8 points off of steals (with 2 of those points being shared on the same possession) in a 4 minute stretch. They surrendered 3 offensive rebounds and 4 turnovers in the Clippers run that they ultimately never recovered from.
Coach Gregg Popovich emphasizes execution, and this young Spurs team has not protected the ball like previous teams coached by the Hall of Famer. Coach Pop also made a point to emphasize defensive rebounding in pre-season interviews.
Ultimately, the Spurs’ record will be largely determined by how they are able to clean up their turnovers and defensive rebounding throughout the season. If they continue to lose the possession battle as badly as they did during the Clippers’ 1st quarter-run, it will be a difficult season for the debut of this iteration of the San Antonio Spurs.
