In Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series between the Clippers and defending champion Spurs, San 
Antonio was overwhelmed by the energy of the home team.
Los Angeles, even when making mistakes in defensive rotations, did so with so much speed and commitment that it often didn’t matter. The Clippers, with an assortment power dunks from Blake Griffin and power spikes from DeAndre Jordan, had the capacity crowd at Staples Center in a frenzy all night.
The Spurs didn’t have an answer.
In Game 2 on Wednesday, San Antonio was a much better team, but still one with flaws to be exploited. After shooting 30 percent from 3-point range – hitting a couple late to goose the number – the Spurs continued firing blanks from downtown, missing 9-of-12, including a bunch that were open enough to look more like shots from pregame warmups.
Tony Parker, limited Sunday by a bum ankle and bruised thigh, was a shell of himself. Manu Ginobili didn’t have a bucket after the second quarter.
Still, the champs walked — or limped, more accurately — back to Texas with a 111-107 overtime victory and a coveted road win.
It was thanks to Tim Duncan, who started 10-of-11, then hit two huge buckets in the extra period, finishing with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard added 23 points and nine boards while using his space alien mega hands to hound L.A.’s stars all night. Patty Mills, filling in for Parker, hit the free throws to send the game into overtime, then racked up eight points once they got there.
But if you ask Griffin, it was thanks to him. With the Clippers up two points late in regulation, Griffin turned the ball over. He did it again in overtime. That he finished with a triple-double (29 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) was beside the point.
“That game is pretty much 100 percent on me,” Griffin said. “I got the ball and up two, needed to take care of it, needed to get a good shot or try to get fouled, and turned it over. So that game is on me.”
Ask Clippers guard Chris Paul, and he will take the blame.
“I missed a shot I should have made there to win the game,” said Paul, referencing a wayward-enough 19-footer with two seconds left in regulation.
Matt Barnes, who missed nine of 10 shots, could shoulder some load, as could Jordan, who missed 11 free throws in 17 tries.
The Spurs may have bounced back with a far better effort relative to Sunday, but they were nonetheless a vulnerable team. The Clippers whiffed on a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead in a series that looks a lot more like a conference finals that a first-round matchup.
Now the Spurs have life. How much might depend on Parker, who added an Achilles tendon injury to his already extensive medical log and is 6-of-17 with no free throws through the first two games. But they still have life.
The game exposed problems for both teams going forward, not just in this series but beyond. For the Spurs, it starts with Parker and moves to Ginobili, who is 5-of-16 in the series. Center Tiago Splitter was better in Game 2 than Aron Baynes was in Game 1 – much to Griffin’s chagrin – but still appears limited by a calf problem. Danny Green hasn’t impressed.
Even Duncan, who turns 39 on Saturday, slowed down considerably in the second half, including a fourth quarter so bad he felt compelled to apologize for it to his teammates. The Spurs can’t lean on him this hard for another five games, much less all the way through the postseason.
Meanwhile, the Clippers played four guys more than 40 minutes, and not because the game went to overtime. They are overwhelmingly reliant on Paul and Griffin, who both logged serious time in Game 1 as well and showed signs of fatigue as Game 2 went on.
No wonder, given the alternatives gifted Doc Rivers the coach by Doc Rivers the GM. Glen Davis as the first big off the bench? Austin Rivers as a fourth guard? Hedo Turkoglu as … anything? With games now coming virtually every other night, Rivers acknowledged he will have to lean more on a group of reserves featuring approximately zero appeal beyond Jamal Crawford.
Surely Clippers fans are overjoyed.
After another clash of these titans created more bleary eyes in East Coast workplaces this morning, Rivers said that the Clippers should have won but didn’t. The Spurs did win but may have suffered catastrophic damage in the process, depending on Parker’s health.
The big winner Wednesday? The Houston Rockets, who can sit back and watch these teams beat the crap out of each other while they pick at the carcass of Mark Cuban’s discombobulated Dallas Mavericks. Because if current trends hold, it is hard to see the winner of this series moving past the next round.
Brian Kamenetzky is a regular contributor to SheridanHoops.com. Follow him and his brother, Andy, on Twitter.