Canberra product Patty Mills' quest to win back-to-back NBA titles with San Antonio has got off to a bad start with the Spurs beaten 107-92 in their first playoff match by LA Clippers in Los Angeles on Monday.
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Mills contributed nine points, an assist and two rebounds but the Clippers looked comfortable throughout thanks to big games from stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.
Griffin racked up 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, with point guard Paul finishing with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Spurs have been forced to defend their title the hard way after their loss to New Orleans in their final regular season match dropped them to the sixth seed in the stacked Western Conference.
Game two will be played at Los Angeles on Thursday.
In other matches on Monday LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers disposed of Boston 113-100, Eastern Conference top seed Atlanta beat Brooklyn99-92 and Memphis accounted for Portland 100-86.
