Despite a valiant effort from their three rookies, the LA Clippers once again fell to the Golden State Warriors. Now down 3-1, here are three takeaways.
The LA Clippers fell to the Golden State Warriors, 113-105. In a game which the Clippers were never really out of, they just couldn’t capitalize on a run in the third quarter.
There were a couple of surprising performances, both good and bad, which we’ll get to later.
Before we jump into the three big takeaways let’s first look at a few quick stats:
- The Warriors out-rebounded the Clippers 49-33. This has been a larger issue across the series as a whole and the adjustment of moving JaMychal Green to the starting lineup in place of Ivica Zubac only worsened it. Patrick Beverley led the team in rebounds with 10.
- The Clippers only shot 75% from the free throw line (24-32 attempts). This poor performance definitely hurt the team, especially Lou Williams, who went 7 of 10 from the line. On the season, he shot almost 87% from the line.
- LA actually managed to out-shoot Golden State from deep. Both teams attempted 31 shots from behind the arc, with the Warriors converting on only 12 to the Clippers 13. It’s rare that a team out-shoots them, so the loss feels even worse.
- Falling down 3-1 pretty much seals the series up for the Clips. In the history of the NBA, only 11 teams have overcome being down 3-1 in a seven game series.
With those out of the way, let’s take a look at the biggest three takeaways from today’s loss, starting with the absolutely amazing showing by our rookies.