Less than a week after being blown out at home, the LA Clippers will travel to Oakland to take on the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors.
Not much has changed since the LA Clippers last faced off with the Golden State Warriors. They played last Saturday, in a game the Clippers lost by 16. LA kept things reasonably close for the first half, but Stephen Curry’s ridiculous 3rd quarter propelled the Warriors to victory. Both teams are still the same teams, but with a few exceptions.
According to Chris Haynes on Twitter, Curry sustained an ankle injury during today’s shootaround and will miss tonight’s game. Klay Thompson will also miss tonight’s game, with the Warriors opting to rest him. Unlike Saturday’s game though, Kevin Durant will be active.
For the Clippers, they’ll be without Blake Griffin, who went down in the first quarter of last week’s game with a concussion. The Clippers seem to be taking all steps possible to ensure Griffin has fully recovered. Milos Teodosic will also be missing his third-straight game with a plantar fascia injury.
The Clippers will have to rely on DeAndre Jordan to carry the team on both ends of the floor, which isn’t as outlandish as it sounds. He’s averaging 19.5 points and 13.8 rebounds in the month of January. What’s most impressive though, is the fact that Jordan is shooting a blistering 74% from the stripe this month. Hack-a-DJ just doesn’t work anymore.
The Warriors are the Warriors, and Clippers fans shouldn’t expect much from this matchup. However, with Curry and Thompson sidelined, there is certainly hope. Curry was one of only two Warriors to score in double figures last week. LA shut down virtually everyone but he and David West.
The Clippers and Warriors will tip-off at 7:30 PST on ESPN. Who you got?