The Morning After: LA Clippers vs Golden State Warriors
By Mike Parrott
The LA Clippers weren’t able to edge closer to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference last night. They lost 133-120 at the Staples Center.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| Clippers | 22 | 33 | 32 | 33 | 120 |
| Warriors | 33 | 32 | 39 | 29 | 133 |
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The LA Clippers weren’t able to overcome an 11 point deficit in the first quarter but kept it close, only losing by 13 points to the Golden State Warriors, while still missing Chris Paul. The Clippers weren’t able to rely on their established scorers and had to be bailed out by Blake Griffin and the numerous Clippers role players.
Blake Griffin ended the game with 31 points and eight rebounds in just over 30 minutes. Another good sign was the play of Austin Rivers. Rivers put up 18 points off 15 shots and has shown his ability to shoulder the scoring load without Chris Paul in the lineup.
A major deficit to the Clippers though was their defense. Letting the Warriors put up 133 points. The ‘big three’ of the Warriors put up 60 shots altogether. If the Clippers want to be in the conversation with contenders like the Warriors, they will have to improve their defense, even without Paul being in the rotation at the moment.
However, here are the five things we learned from the Clippers vs Warriors game.