The San Antonio Spurs have put themselves in an elite class of two and can continue their impressive late-season run during a visit to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Spurs (58-18) extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 127-113 victory over the undermanned Golden State Warriors to open a three-game road trip. This is their final set of away games in the regular season.
Thursday also marks the end of San Antonio’s back-to-back challenges in the regular season.
The Spurs are just two games behind the Western Conference-leading and NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder with six games remaining. While San Antonio is 25-2 since Feb. 1, Oklahoma City is 18-2 since the end of the All-Star break.
The chase for the No. 1 playoff seed in the West has taken on a playoff feel all its own.
The Spurs went 4-1 against the Thunder this season, even winning an NBA Cup semifinals in a game that had a playoff feel. The Spurs can now finish off a perfect season against the play-in tournament bound Clippers after winning the previous two games.
The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama tied his season high of 41 points against the Warriors in a mark that 22-year-old had just set on Monday in a victory over the Chicago Bulls. He added 18 rebounds to become the youngest player in NBA history with back-to-back 40-point, 15-rebound games.
“It feels like everybody is comfortable in their role,” Wembanyama said after the victory on Wednesday. “The (veterans) feel comfortable giving as much advice as they want to (and) as they feel they need to. And the younger players apply and listen. So we have a good dynamic.”
Stephon Castle added 15 points and 11 assists as the Spurs finished 2-2 against the Warriors this season.
The Clippers saw a five-game winning streak come to an end with a 114-104 loss to the surging Portland Trail Blazers at home Tuesday. Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points with eight rebounds for Los Angeles, while Darius Garland scored 20 points.
After he averaged 28.3 points over 22 games in January and February, Leonard cooled off a bit and averaged 23.2 points while playing in 14 of the 18 games during a busy March.
The Clippers were crushed in the rebounding department 48-30 against the Trail Blazers as they continue to search for an inside presence after big man Ivica Zubac was traded to the Indiana Pacers in February.
“We’re not good enough with a small lineup right now,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “I told the players, I take accountability for that because we haven’t had a chance to practice, and we haven’t played small all year, and so we don’t know how to play offensively with the small unit here. We will get better.”
In addition to trading Zubac, rookie big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser went down with a season-ending foot injury.
Playing small by necessity is not the best situation to be in with the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama up next.
“You got to play with urgency. We understand the situation,” said the Clippers’ Kris Dunn, who took just two shots in 20 minutes and scored two points with two rebounds against the Trail Blazers. “… We just got to pick up the film and be better. When the situation arrives again, I’ll be more prepared.”
