Clippers Take Game 1 From Spurs

The Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs played Game One of the Western Conference quarterfinals on Sunday night at Staples Center

The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-92 to take Game 1 in their first-round playoff series Sunday night at Staples Center.

The LA Clippers had won 14 of their last 15 games entering the 2015 NBA Playoffs, and Clippers coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers was asked about his thoughts on drawing the San Antonio Spurs, who are the defending champions, during his pregame press conference.

"Wow! That's what you get for going 14-1?!" Rivers exclaimed.

The Spurs may be the defending champions, but the Clippers (56-26) finished with a slightly better record than the Spurs (55-27), and so, the series started in LA with the Clippers holding the home court advantage in a potential seventh game. Taking full advantage of the reward of finishing one game better than the Spurs, the Clippers got off to a hot start in front of a jam packed Staples Center.

Almost immediately, the Clippers led by double-digits. Adding to the slow start, Spurs point guard Tony Parker rolled his ankle, which forced him off the court and into the locker room in the first quarter. Shooting 55 percent and holding the Spurs to 30 percent from the field, the Clippers led 30-18 after one quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, the Spurs put together a 10-0 run, and the Clippers' lead suddenly shrunk to only two points. At that stage, Parker shook off his niggle and returned to the ball game. In the blink of an eye, the game would be level.

For the final few minutes of the first half, Clippers center DeAndre Jordan would become a central figure in the contest. Jordan's defense would help shut the Spurs down and quickly give the home team an eight-point edge. However, San Antonio went to the "Hack-a-Jordan" strategy, and the Clippers' center would shoot 12 free throws in the second quarter alone. He made five of them.

At the halftime buzzer, the Clippers still retained a six-point edge despite Kawhi Leonard getting into an offensive rhythm late in the half. Leonard led the Spurs with nine points at the break, while Blake Griffin led the home team with 13 points at the intermission.

In the third quarter, the Clippers would break the game open with Griffin continuing to add to his tally. The 26-year-old forward would score 10 points in the third quarter, and Clippers point guard Chris Paul would contribute another 12 points of his own in the quarter. With the two Clippers' superstars firing, LA would open up a 15-point lead after three quarters.

At the start of the fourth quarter, that lead would jump back up to 18 points, which was the game high. Quickly, the Spurs would hit a flurry of three-pointers to bring the game back down to single digits with about seven and a half minutes remaining in the contest. Only one minute later, the home team re-extended the lead to 16 points to silence the Spurs' rally.

From there, the clock would slowly count down, and the Clippers took a 1-0 lead in the series. Griffin finished with 26 points and Paul ended the game with 32 points, six assists and seven rebounds.

Game Two of the best-of-seven series will take place on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

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