San Antonio Spurs defeat the LA Clippers in OT

In sports there seems to be a very fine line between villain and hero. If you need an example, just take a look at the San Antonio 103-100 win over the Clippers at the Staples Center last night. In a matter of seconds Gary Neal went from been the player that dropped a pass with little time left on the clock to be the guy who made a steal and score a three pointer late in regulation to tie the game. As if that was not enough to redeem his mistake, Neal scored another three pointer to put the Spurs ahead. It took a bit of work from Tony Parker and the rest of the Spurs to hold of the home team and take an important win, but not without some serious setback for the longer run.

The Western Conference 2nd and 3rd best gave us some sort of preview of what we could come to expect during the playoffs if these two teams can keep up their rhythm throughout this extremely demanding season. Tony Parker finished the game with 30 points, 3 rebounds and 10 assists to take the main role in the Spurs performance. Neal, a second year player coming off from Towson, finished the game with 17 points and 3 rebounds and was one of 6 Spurs to finish the night with double figures. Still, it was an ugly finish for the Clippers who had been working well on their previous games, but certainly not as efficiently as the Spurs who have now won 10 straight games to hold a 22-9 record this season.

Neal's play was perhaps the highlight of the game, shadowed only perhaps by an amazing dunk by Blake Griffin in regulation time. Griffin finished the night with 22 points and 20 rebounds and pitched in quite a bit in what was certainly an underpar performance from his teammate Chris Paul. The Clippers point guard finished the game with 21 points and 2 rebounds, but despite what the numbers say, it really wasn't his best game ever. Paul took the blame for messing the play up in the fourth quarter. There were 6.9 seconds left in regulation and he lost the ball trying to avoid a backcourt violation.

"Man, that was probably the worst play I've been a part of since I've been in the NBA," said Paul in the postgame conference. "We were taking the ball out and we knew they had to foul. I was running to the backcourt when the ball came, and I didn't want to get a backcourt violation. So the dummy I am, I threw the ball and it went right to Gary Neal and he hit the 3. We obviously gave that game away right there -- up three with the ball with some seconds left. We've got to win games like that.

" Still, more bad news keep on adding up for the Spurs. Sure, they took the win, but at a very high price. A San Antonio Spurs spokesman said after the game that Manu Ginobili has a strained left oblique. Ginobili was playing in his fourth game after missing 22 games with a broken bone in his left hand. It's uncertain when is he going to be back.