Doc Rivers: Boris Diaw has come through in solid fashion for San Antonio

Boris Diaw

Boris Diaw/Photo courtesy of San Antonio Spurs, NBA.com

Spurs reserve post Boris Diaw averaged 8.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 24.5 minutes during the regular season for the Spurs. He entered Game 6 averaging 10.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 28.7 minutes in the first five games of this series.

Coach Gregg Popovich was asked about Diaw’s contributions during the pregame news conference ahead of Game 6 on Thursday night in San Antonio.

“He’s doing a pretty good job,” said Popovich, who was in his short-answer mode.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers had no difficulty going into detail about what Diaw has meant to the Spurs in this series.

“I’ve heard talk about (Tim) Duncan and (Tony) Parker and (Manu) Ginobili and everyone else – and, obviously, Kawhi (Leonard) – but Diaw to me has been the quietest asset in this series,” Rivers said.

“He’s been the guy who’s made big shots, he’s made big plays. … When you just look at comfort, he’s looked so comfortable on the floor.”

Diaw has had one poor shooting game, and that came in Game 1 when he was just 2 of 12 from the field. Even then, he had six rebounds and five assists.

Five things to take from Clippers’ 100-73 Game 3 loss to San Antonio Spurs

Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

– When Jamal Crawford is in a groove, he can be as deadly from the field as anyone. But after shooting 1 of 11 in this one, he is a combined 5 of 24 over the past two games – 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. This needs to change in a hurry, as in Game 4 Sunday.

– Another shooter, J.J. Redick, is also struggling. He is now shooting 31.2 percent from the field (10 of 32) in the series after going 2 of 7 in this massacre. The Clippers need Redick to be closer to the guy who had the best regular season of his nine-year career.

– To be clear, Crawford and Redick were not the only poor shooters in this loss. Blake Griffin was 6 of 15, Chris Paul 3 of 11. As a team, the Clippers shot 34.1 percent, 26.1 percent from 3-point range. Doc Rivers himself said the loss was more about his team’s “awful” offense than their defense that cost them the game. We should note, however, that the Spurs shot 52.6 percent from the field, so that was in play, too.

– We heard it a lot that the Clippers’ bench can’t stack up with San Antonio’s. Clippers reserves scored 30 points, but much of that was during garbage time. Crawford scored just five points before garbage time. The Spurs, on the other hand, got 15 big points, seven rebounds and four assists from Boris Diaw in 23 terrific minutes; six points from Patty Mills and nine from Marco Belinelli.

Matt Barnes has had a rather lousy series. He’s averaging 5.7 points and shooting 30 percent from the field. But at least in Game 2 – when he shot 1 of 10 – he had 10 rebounds. Barnes had zero rebounds in this game. Guarding Kawhi Leonard – or trying to – is killing the rest of his game.