April 27--The Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 on Sunday, 114-105, tying the best-of-seven, first-round playoff series at 2-2.
Here are some immediate postgame reactions from Clippers Coach Doc Rivers.
On Rivers deciding to play Chris Paul big minutes in the fourth quarter despite him getting his fifth foul with eight minutes and 25 seconds left
"What I thought [Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich] did was brilliant -- right when [Paul] got to five [fouls], everybody was attacking CP, and CP was getting out of the way, so now they're scoring quick. That's when I put Austin [Rivers] in for that minute and a half. I swear to God, from a coaching standpoint, that felt like 20 minutes to me because all of the sudden we weren't as aggressive offensively."
Note: Paul led all scorers with 34 points on 11-for-19 shooting, had seven assists and only two turnovers in Game 4 after having his worst performance of the season in the Clippers' 100-73 Game 3 loss on Friday, when he had more turnovers (six) than assists (four), and only seven points on three-for-11 shooting.
On the Clippers pressuring the ball on defense
"I thought we were much better. Our bigs, in particular, their pressure on the ball was huge. In Game 3, I thought their bigs just picked us apart because we didn't put any ball pressure on the ball, and I thought tonight we did."
Note: The Clippers outshot the Spurs from the field in Game 4, 53.6% to 44%. In Game 3, the Spurs outshot the Clippers from the field, 52.6% to 34.1%.
On J.J Redick finding open looks in Game 4 after struggling in Game 3
"It was better ball movement. As a coach, you've got to go one of two ways, you run more things through [Redick], or you run less stuff, and tell the guys to run the stuff through the open guys. We went that way. We just said don't focus on it, play, move the ball, swing the ball, and the ball will find him eventually. J.J. finds a way of getting open. When you look at his baskets, I don't think one of them came off of a set play, and for us, that's a great lesson."
Note: Redick finished with 17 points on six-for-12 shooting in Game 4, after having only seven points on two-for-seven shooting in Game 3.
