With a game surrounded by controversy, the Golden State Warriors came into the STAPLES Center and defeated the Clippers, 110-106. The first place Warriors continued their historic season, improving their record to 61-13 and taking the season series from the Clippers three games to one.
The night started off poorly for Golden State, with Los Angeles coming out and gaining a 30-18 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Clippers came out with tremendous energy and shot 56 percent from the field. It seemed as the Warriors were going to have one of those nights where they could not buy a bucket. Golden State started off the contest shooting 28 percent from the field. The tide seemed to turn at the end of the second quarter and in the second half. Klay Thompson came out of the half on fire scoring 13 of his 25 points in the third quarter. The Warriors also locked down defensively in the second half ane especially in the fourth holidng the Clippers to 23% from the field.
The absence of Draymond Green, who is sitting out to nurse a recent shin injury, was quite apparent with Blake Griffin taking control of the contest early on. Blake Griffin led the Clippers tonight and totaled 40 points and 12 rebounds on 16 of 25 shooitng. Green’s defensive tenacity and the lack of it from David Lee allowed Griffin to make his mark offensively on this game tonight, forcing late game adjustments by Steve Kerr to switch the matchup with Andrew Bogut. Bogut held his ground, holding DeAndre Jordan to five points and 15 rebounds and chipping in with six points, nine rebounds, and five assists on the other end. Lee, however, held his own ground offensively by scoring 17 points and pulling in six rebounds. Marreese Speights finished off the big scoring with 13 points going 5 for 8 from the field.
This game had a little a bit everything tonight with the guards putting on a show as well. With Stephen Curry and Chris Paul trading off highlight real performance of their handles, Curry put up this SportsCenter Top Ten move on Chris Paul.
Curry went on to continue his MVP campaign, scoring 27 points on 4 of 6 from the three-point line and dishing out four assists. Paul chipped in with 27 points and nine assists. Thompson shook off a rough shooting first half to finish off the game strong with 25 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, while Paul’s sidekick J.J. Reddick slowed down his recent hot play and scored 14 points on 4 of 12 shooting.
The game was off to a controversial start even before tip off with the head coaches trading jabs in the pre-game press conferences. Kerr fired the first jab by stating that Green could play if the game “meant something," to which Rivers responded, "That was pretty predictable, we kind of assumed they didn't want to take the risk of going 2-2 with their regular guys.”
Kerr had the final word with his response of, "Either that, or we have a nine-game lead (in the Western Conference) with a couple guys banged up. It's somewhere in there." We knew this game was going to be exciting ever since Green commented on his absence of having “Blake-itis.” These two teams obviously do not like each other, and it will be fun if we see a rematch of last year’s playoff matchup this year. The Warriors look like a team that will make a legitmate run for the Larry Obrian Trophy this year and are playing their best basketball at the most opportune time.
The Clippers will look to rebound from this loss tomorrow night in Portland against the Trail Blazers. The Warriors will continue their march into the playoffs Thursday night in Phoenix against the Suns.