STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA — The Golden State Warriors were at Staples Center tonight to face the Los Angeles Clippers. Festus Ezeli was ruled out due to a sprained ankle. Marreese Speights got the start.
1ST QUARTER: Crawford Disguises Ugly Quarter For Clippers
The Clippers got onto the board quickly as J.J. Redick found DeAndre Jordan with an extra pass for a thunderous dunk from the left side, but the Warriors would answer with a 10-0 run. Matt Barnes stole the ball from Harrison Barnes trying to drive on Redick and spinning, but Matt got picked by Stephen Curry on the other end. Curry then drove the lane and swished a one-foot jumper.
The Warriors were eager to get out on the open court against the Clippers and, after Matt Barnes and Chris Paul missed consecutive three-point tries, Klay Thompson got into the paint on some early offense attacking, splitting two defenders and fading back for a short swish.
But Curry threw the ball away to an unsuspecting Harrison, then Speights missed a jumper, and Jordan finally broke the Clippers’ drought after getting fouled on an offensive rebound by Harrison.
Speights got a dunk after that as Harrison posted up on the smaller Redick and rotated the ball after the double-team. Curry gave a little razzle-dazzle going behind-the-back crossover left-to-right past Paul, dumping it off at the last moment to a cutting Speights after the defense committed to Curry.
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Draymond Green did well to keep Blake Griffin at bay, getting two blocked shots on the tentative Griffin, the second of which was on a face-up that Blake wasn’t comfortable with, trying to drive, then shield the ball with his body, on the smaller and more nimble Green.
But the Dubs blew their own opportunities to increase the margin as Green and Thompson missed threes, Andre Iguodala mishandled a point-blank fake that probably should’ve been dunked immediately, looking at his hands afterwards as if the ball had slipped out. Harrison also missed point blank out of an “ATO” (after-timeout play).
On the other hand, the Warriors motion offense produced a couple buckets, both involving David Lee. Thompson drove left-handed, got doubled, and found a cutting Lee for the slam that made it 16-6 with 3:56 to play. Lee made the extra pass after Curry found him cutting near the rim, allowing Livingston to convert a bunny as Lee found him for the extra cut to the basket.
However, Clippers super-sub Jamal Crawford stole the show in the waning moments. With the Clippers offense stuck in neutral, Crawford found himself up top with the ball and the shotclock winding down, and converted the triple over the lunging, taller Iguodala.
With the Warriors up, 18-13, with 1:32 to play in the opening frame, Curry had a momentary lapse on defense as Paul snuck by for an offensive rebound after Griffin missed yet another Clipper field goal attempt, and got called on a ticky-tack foul reaching on as Paul added a little mustard to the play to sell the whistle.
The Warriors were small with Harrison guarding Griffin and on a miss by Glen “Big Baby” Davis after the shotclock wound down yet again, Griffin managed to tap the ball out to Crawford, who wasted no time drilling another three, tying the ballgame at 18-18 with 32 ticks to go.
Harrison answered, however, driving on the slower Griffin, hard right-handed down the lane, drawing the foul as he banked in the shot. Barnes missed the free throw and the Warriors took a 20-18 lead into the second period. Crawford led all scorers with 10 points and Curry notched 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Clippers shot 4-for-24 (16.7%) in the quarter, but the Warriors shot 9-for-21 field and both teams were 2-for-9 from downtown.
2ND QUARTER: Clippers Athleticism Overcomes Shooting Woes
Iguodala began the second frame atoning for the previous slippage with a swooping right-handed dunk in the lane, assisted by Justin Holiday and taking his man strong. Lee got a lefty banker to go over Davis, but Davis came back with a tough field goal after seemingly elbowing Harrison in the face.
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With Holiday guarding him, Crawford’s eyes lit up and he took Holiday strong with the right hand for an easy banker. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had to take out Holiday only after a couple minutes of play.
Neither team could establish a rhythm, as the Clippers were throwing up bricks, even with Crawford now missing a couple. Iguodala missed a dunk, the third “gimme” at the rim the Warriors failed to capitalize on, and Paul bullied Curry on the offensive end, getting his own rebound over him for the third time in the game, cutting the Warriors lead to 28-24 with 6:53 to play in the half.
Thompson got a three to go in Matt Barnes’ face and then posted up the smaller Redick and drilled a turnaround, but after Griffin and Matt Barnes committed consecutive turnovers, mishandling the ball in the paint, Klay missed and Curry missed a three, and on Curry’s miss, the Clippers raced down the floor and Griffin got an alley oop to Jordan. Griffin would follow that up with another dunk and Kerr called timeout to prevent “Lob City” from becoming an epidemic, still up, 34-28 with 3:55 to play in the half.
It was the Warriors’ passing versus the Clippers’ athleticism to close things out in the half, as Curry drilled a three after Green got an offensive rebound on a Speights miss and passed it out to an open Steph from the deep left elbow. And even though Speights was able to draw fouls at the rim, he only converted two of four free throws and Griffin blocked or forced him to miss on the other opportunities.
Livingston and Thompson tried to post up the smaller Paul, but Paul forced both to miss and even drew a foul as a frustrated Livingston complained to the ref for the body check, as Paul dribbled in the backcourt, trying to advance the ball.
The Warriors took a slim 42-41 lead into halftime.
Crawford still led all scorers with 12 points, Paul added 10 points, and Griffin had 9 rebounds, while Jordan had 8 boards. Thompson led the Warriors with 9 points. The Warriors held the Clippers to 13-for-47 shooting (21.7%), but shot only 3-for-13 from downtown themselves. The Clippers had 16 free throws compared to Golden State’s 7.
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