Veteran Spurs laugh last against Clippers

LOS ANGELES — Wry and relaxed, Gregg Popovich was paying homage Saturday morning to Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro, his friend and former player, using a favorite and trusted tool — the needle.

Popovich noted that for the last 15 years, the Spurs have named a defense for Del Negro.

"Because he couldn't play a lick of D," Popovich said with a chuckle. "At times, we had to invent something just to hide him, so we call it Del Negro. We do certain things on the court and everybody has to make up for that guy who's in Del Negro."

This was supposed to be the season when the joke was finally on Popovich, when the past-their-prime Spurs would crash in a pile of aches, pains and losses brought on by an aging roster, a compressed schedule and an up-and-coming Western Conference.

Well, guess who is having the last laugh?

The Spurs did again Sunday when they won their 10th in a row, a 103-100 victory over the Clippers that was either a testament to good fortune — "Sometimes you just have to get lucky, and we got lucky on that one," Tim Duncan said — or a paean to why San Antonio has been the blue-chip standard of NBA franchises over the last decade and a half. That is, they don't get beat by not minding the details.

"They put banners up for a reason," said Del Negro of the Spurs, who have won four titles in the last 13 seasons. "They've seen it all. You've got to beat them. They're not going to beat themselves."

That was evident on the game's two critical plays. The Clippers had the ball and a three-point lead with 9.5 seconds left, but when Ryan Gomes' inbounds pass came to Chris Paul near midcourt, he was so concerned about a backcourt violation that he threw the ball right to San Antonio guard Gary Neal, who, after a brief moment, realized where he was and sank a 3-pointer to tie it.

It was a rare moment when Paul, who has been so smart and cool for the Clippers, lost his poise.

"We needed a miracle and we got one," Spurs forward Matt Bonner said.

Then, with 25.4 seconds left in overtime, Neal broke a tie score with a wide open three from the corner that came after the Clippers double-teamed Tim Duncan on the opposite block.

"They recognized at the end there when they had to go to Tim in the post on a switch, and Tim knew exactly where the help was coming from and hit the weakside and got the open three," Del Negro said. "They've seen it all. We've been together two months. They've been together 10 years, so we've got a lot of work to do."

That is one summation of the differences between the two teams, who are not separated by much in the standings — the Spurs (22-9) have the second-best record in the Western Conference behind Oklahoma City and the Clippers (19-10) are third — and were not separated by much on the court. The Clippers looked poised to blow out the Spurs, jumping to a 13-point lead early in the second quarter. But by midway through the third, they trailed by 15.

When the Clippers roared back on the strength of 11 consecutive missed shots by San Antonio and took a 67-65 lead after Eric Bledsoe's between-the-legs pass to Blake Griffin for a resounding dunk, it might have flustered some teams. Instead, Neal answered with a three to put the Spurs ahead again.

Asked what he admired most about the Spurs, Griffin, who had 22 points and 20 rebounds, said: "Just the way they run their offense, the way they never get down. When we made that big run and had it going, they were calm the whole time. You've got to give it to them."

The same might be said for the Spurs' entire season.

Last April, the Grizzlies had the audacity to back into the eighth spot so they could play the top-seeded Spurs in the playoffs. Then they beat San Antonio, whose cause was not helped in that series by losing Manu Ginobili.

Despite calls to break up the aging Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs made few changes.

And much of this winning streak has been done without Ginobili, one of the Spurs' cornerstones and their emotional leader. He returned last week from a broken hand, but was lost again Saturday in the third quarter with what appears to be an oblique injury. He is not expected to return soon, said Popovich, who also saw his front-court rotation thinned by losing center Thiago Splitter (calf) in the first quarter.

But perhaps no team has so seamlessly filled in holes over the years as the Spurs. Consider the three players who played such key roles on Sunday: Neal, the second-year free agent who had bounced around Europe; Matt Bonner, who scored 13 points in 35 minutes off the bench and helped slow Griffin in the second half; and Danny Green, a former second-round pick of Cleveland who had played 28 games in the last two seasons, but found himself charged with defending Paul down the stretch.

"This organization makes it very easy for you, very comfortable," said Green, whose harassment of Paul was rewarded in a 6-for-19 shooting performance by the Clippers guard. "It seems they're putting trust in me."

The Spurs may have Parker, who had 30 points and 10 assists and is still devastating when running the pick-and-roll. But they can't count on many others, especially without Ginobili to manufacture offense — or roof-raising moments.

"We believe in each other and know if we work hard and stick to the process, we'll be able to make another run," Bonner said. "We don't have Blake Griffin. We don't have that guy you just throw him the ball and say, 'OK, go score.' We rely on team defense, proper rotations and execute our game plan."

And so Neal found himself in just the right place when Paul tossed the ball toward him. Neal was asked if he was surprised.

"Yeah, my first dribble was toward the rim and then I remembered that we're down three, so we've got to get a three-pointer," Neal said.

Richard Jefferson, getting dressed nearby, set Neal straight. "You're not supposed to tell them that," Jefferson said. "You're supposed to say, ‘Yeah, I knew all along. I made a play on the ball.'"

"Court awareness," Green chimed in.

"I read his eyes," Jefferson said.

Neal laughed along with his teammates and continued with his story. Perhaps his version wasn't as sexy, but it contained all the important details — not unlike the Spurs.