Gregg Popovich is not the kind of man you want to get on the wrong side of when he isn't happy and the San Antonio Spurs players certainly felt that last night.  

The Spurs put in a lacklustre display on their home floor as they were beaten 98-87 by the Los Angeles Clippers.  

That defeat quickly followed a shock home loss to the tanking Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the week. 

With the number two spot in the Western Conference already secured by Popovich's men, this is usually the time of the year that the experienced head coach rests his star players ahead of the playoffs. 

However, after the recent losses, Popovich is not prepared to grant his players that luxury with just two games left on the schedule.

"Our execution at both games, defensively and offensively, was very poor," Popovich said. "Nobody's going to rest. Everybody's going to play. We already rested everybody, and we have days in between now. It's like the playoffs, kind of.

"It's like the playoffs, kind of. There's no back-to-backs. There's no bad travel or anything like that, so it's time for rhythm and that sort of thing. Hopefully, we'll play better next week."

Uncharacteristically, the Spurs have lost three of their last five home games and it's no surprise that Pop wants to rectify their problems before the postseason. The Clippers dominated them and Popovich didn't enjoy what he saw from his team. 

"They were more aggressive than we were," Popovich said. "They wanted the game more. We were aggressive, got into them and showed the physicality and communication necessary to win against a good team for about six minutes of the third quarter, and that was that. We didn't have enough physical toughness to compete with them."

He will certainly hope the Spurs gain some of that as they face the Portland Trail Blazers, who are fighting for the eighth seed, on the road Monday before closing out the season Wednesday in Utah against the Jazz, who are battling the Clippers for home-court advantage in the first-round series between the two.

With a road to the NBA Finals potentially consisting of matchups with the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors in the west, the Texas-based outfit know they can't go into those encounters playing badly. 

Just like last year, the Spurs will face the Memphis Grizzlies in the opening round but their opponents will have a healthy roster this time after Marc Gasol and Mike Conley both missed the previous series.

They can prove to be a dangerous team to face with their grit and grind style of basketball and they have a history of upsetting San Antonio in the postseason. Pop's men can't afford any complacency.