The Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs will square off in the first round of the Western Conference NBA playoffs.

This is a matchup of "old school" vs. "new school" for NBA fans. While the Clippers have home-court advantage, the Spurs will come out on top.

Here are 5 reasons the Spurs will eliminate the Clippers:

1. Experience

This Spurs team knows how to win -- it's what they do.

Sure, some of their best players are past their prime, but, as legendary former Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich famously said, you can never count out the heart of a champion. This Spurs squad has won the West the last two seasons using the same successful techniques. They'll have to win at least one road game in Los Angeles, but this Spurs team can do just that, maybe win two. Aside from great veteran players like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, reigning NBA Finals MVP, should be the go-to guy.

2. Point Guard Matchup

Time and time again we've seen Tony Parker thrive in the postseason, while Chris Paul III has let fans down. Parker has been the starting point guard of four Spurs championship squads, whereas Paul has never made it out of the second round of the playoffs in his career. In the 43 career games that these two have played against one another, Parker has the advantage in wins, 28-15. Parker has also eliminated Paul both times the two met in the postseason. Paul will rack up more assists, but can he make the big plays when it matters most?

3. Coaching

One of the biggest questions going into this game will be, How many times will coach Gregg Popovich intentionally foul DeAndre Jordan? Jordan is a very powerful player, but he made just 39.7 percent of his shots from the free throw line this season. You know Popovich will exploit that as he loves to use the "Hack-a-Shaq" technique. Outside of that, Popovich is easily the best coach in the league having won the NBA Coach of the Year Award three times, including last season. Doc Rivers is no slouch, but he's just not Popovich.

4. Size

The Clippers have quality big men like DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, but let's not underestimate the Spurs front-court players. Tiago Splitter is the "blue collar" Brazilian big man that Popovich loves to have defensively. Matt Bonner and Boris Diaw provide huge minutes throughout the game, and Duncan is still Duncan. This regular season the Spurs ranked 15th in rebounds per game, while the Clippers ranked just 20th. Duncan has shown he stop Griffin plenty of times in the past, regular season and postseason.

5. Bench Play

You can never count out the Spurs for so many reasons, and one of the biggest factors has been their incredible bench. Even if Parker is struggling, Popovich can lean on his Argentinean shooting guard to take command of the offense. Even Marco Belinelli plays a huge role coming off the bench with his great three point shooting. The Spurs never unload a huge max contract on a player because they know how to save salary cap space for postseasons success. The point is the Spurs will always have great players on the floor, even if it's not their starting five.

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