If there’s one thing the Los Angeles Clippers can be happy about from their blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1, it was the inspired performance from Eric Bledsoe.
Bledsoe shot 10-16 from the floor for 23 points and seemed like he could score at will against the Spurs’ defense. He also added 4 offensive rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a block. He filled up the stat sheet and, aside from Caron Butler’s 3rd quarter, was the only Clipper playing well.
So should the Spurs devote some extra attention to making sure that Bledsoe doesn’t go off again? Maybe a little, but I wouldn’t change up the whole strategy.
The Clippers have a lot of offensive weapons and a lot of good shooters. Intensely focusing on one means that someone else will find a way to get open and hurt you. I think if you’re the Spurs, it’s okay to let one guy beat you as long as that one guy isn’t Chris Paul. Paul is the catalyst for the entire offense so when he gets going, that’s when you really get hurt.
The Spurs need to be willing to focus a little more attention on Bledsoe, but I guarantee that if they change around their whole defensive game plan, they won’t like the results. It’s impossible to shut down everyone on this Clippers team and they showed in the first game that even if one guy goes crazy and plays one of the best games of his career, they can still lose by 16 points.
So my advice to the Spurs is an old cliché: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you’re winning by double digits, you don’t need to change anything. Bledsoe could score 40 a game, but if the Spurs win by 20, who really cares?
