The LA Clippers went in a big hole early against the Golden State Warriors and couldn’t recover, losing 115-98 at Staples Center.
Klay Thompson cooled off from his career-high, 60-point night to score 24 points, and the Golden State Warriors (19-3) extended their win streak to seven in a row against the LA Clippers (16-7). A few competitive spells of play came and the Clippers cut the lead to seven in the second quarter, though losing the first quarter 37-19 proved to be a hole they could never find their way out of.
Stephen Curry did not hit a three in the game, but still chipped in 19 points, and Kevin Durant added only 16 points. Draymond Green had the hot hand, scoring 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting and making three of his five three-pointers.
Jamal Crawford had some brilliant moments and scored 21 points to be the only Clipper to score surpass 20, while Chris Paul added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, and wasn’t as aggressive as he needed to be at times. Blake Griffin added only 12 points on what quickly became a poor night for him, shooting 5-of-20 with seven of the Clippers’ 14 turnovers for the game. DeAndre Jordan contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds, showing early how he can dominate the offensive boards with a couple of put-back dunks.
Griffin hit his first shot of the night to give the Clippers a 2-0 lead. The game was close for the first six minutes, then after that the Warriors went on a 28-9 tear to finish out the quarter.
The Clippers shot a horrid 33 percent from the field over the first 12 minutes. L.A. had visibility problems with the Warriors and their length. It did not help that the Clippers turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter.
The Clippers, after being down 20 in the second, were able to shoot themselves back into the game with help from Crawford and Paul leading the way. They cut it down to seven in the second, yet, as soon as the Clippers came close, the Warriors came back to put their lead to 62-49 by halftime.
The third quarter saw the Warriors push their lead to 27, while the Clippers went on a 12-0 run to get it back to 14 points. Unfortunately, that was the closest they would get to single digits again.
Clipper mistakes
The Clippers had nine turnovers for the first quarter, and they only had five more for the game. They were held to 39 percent shooting for the game, while the Warriors shot 47.7 percent. Golden State had 12 steals compared to a season-low of 2 by the Clippers.
L.A. never looked comfortable in the game and made many mental mistakes throughout the game. Paul and Crawford hit their threes with the clock running down trying to avoid a shot clock violation, but it was nothing that was a clean open look from ball movement. Blake was effectively neutralized in a game that desperately needed his production to have a chance. The double and even triple-teams came quickly with other Warrior players getting into his passing lanes to create a steal.
Three technicals were given to none other than Blake, Chris, and Doc Rivers for arguing calls with officials. Again, the Clippers could not move passed the last play and move to the next.
The ball movement stopped, their passing lanes were nowhere to be found which led to the Warrior’s 12 steals.
Clippers Bench
The Clippers bench made a couple of runs that were led by their sharpshooting shot creator Crawford and Austin Rivers. Crawford had some timely threes to keep the Clippers close. Austin felt it early and was able to shoot, drive and pass without some of the troubles the starters had.
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The Clipper bench outscored the warrior bench 57-30. Marreese Speights had 15 points on 6-10 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds in just 16 minutes.
Notes
The Clippers have now lost five of the last seven games, and they have another two days off before their next home game.
Jordan only needs two more rebounds to hit 6,000 for his career.
The Warriors shot 7-of-30 from three and the Clippers’ league-best defense still allowed 115 points.
J.J Redick couldn’t get any good looks and had two points for the game and his league-leading streak for most games with at least one three was snapped at 77 games. Speights played his first game against his former team after the clippers signed him in the offseason.
Next: Felton has been excellent for Clippers' bench
Up next
The LA Clippers host the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday after another two days of rest. The Clippers blew out the Pelicans less than one week ago and will try to get back to their winning ways. We all know they need to right now.