Despite one of the worst shooting games of his playoff career, Spurs guard Tony Parker said Wednesday he wasn’t disappointed in his effort in his team’s Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Parker clanked through a 1-for-9 shooting night and was limited to seven points. It was the second-worst shooting effort of his playoff career, trumped only by a 1-for-12 performance in a Game 4 loss to New Jersey in his second NBA season on June 11, 2003. His scoring effort was his playoff low since he was limited to four points in the series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Nets in that same series.
“From the beginning of the game, they wanted to check me out, trapping me and forcing me to give the ball up,” Parker said. “If they are going to do that strategy, Timmy (Duncan) is going to have a lot of wide-open shots and all of our shooters will have wide-open shots.”
That was the case Tuesday night as Duncan went for 26 points in his top playoff scoring effort since the 2010 playoffs.
The rest of the Spurs picked up the slack in their 15th consecutive victory.
“That’s what is great about our team is that we’re deep and we can make shots,” Parker said. “If you want to use that strategy, I’m pretty confident in my teammates that they are going to make their shots.”
Paul was limited to six points on 3-for-13 shooting. It was his lowest scoring playoff effort since he scored four points in a Game 4 loss with New Orleans against Denver on April 27, 2009.
And despite Parker’s low scoring numbers, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn’t diminish his importance in the victory.
“Tony needs to play well, like he did last night,” Popovich said. “He had 11 assists last night which is important in us winning the basketball game. Good players take what is given and make their teams better. And Tony did that last night.”
