STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA — On the second night of a back-to-back, the Golden State Warriors (48-5) flew in from Portland to face the Los Angeles Clippers (36-18).
The Warriors were without Andrew Bogut (sore Achilles sustained in loss to Blazers), Festus Ezeli (left knee surgery rehab) and James McAdoo (sprained left toe).
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr opted with Brandon Rush in the starting lineup in place of Bogut.
The Clippers without Austin Rivers (fractured hand) and Blake Griffin (quad, fractured hand).
1st Quarter – Klay On-Point
The Warriors started off on point, as Klay Thompson hit his first two shots and Harrison Barnes and Stephen Curry each drained threes.
Barnes made his while trailing Curry as Steph dribbled up and dissected the perimeter. After that, Curry went behind-the-back off a pick-and-roll from Draymond Green and swished it:
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Green got two assists to Steph. The first was a behind-the-back toss up to the top and, as Green surveyed wide-open, found Curry under the hoop for an easy catch-lay-in.
Green also forced DeAndre Jordan into a traveling call, hounding him as he had the ball up top alone, which soon thereafter resulted in a Klay triple.
The second layup, Curry slipped past Chris Paul for a finger roll, again assisted by Draymond:
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With 6:03 to go in the first, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers called timeout as the Steph’s layup gave the Warriors a 19-8 lead.
Out of the timeout, Paul attacked the rim for a layup, but later Green got another assist as the Clippers fell asleep and left Rush wide open on the right baseline. Rush slammed it home with two hands to make it 21-10, Warriors, with 5:08 to play.
However, Curry didn’t get to the spot quickly enough on a Paul hesitation dribble and it was the second time that happened against Paul. With two fouls, Steph sat down and Kerr brought in Shaun Livingston with 4:43 left.
Paul missed a triple in and out over Andre Iguodala, Green made a great block-out of Jordan to rebound, perhaps upset with the physical contact, and Thompson scored on the other end on a right-to-left penetration of the lane, ending with a pretty righty floater.
But on the change of possession, Draymond was tagged with a technical foul for arguing with the ref. It was Green’s 13th tech of the season, three shy of an automatic one-game suspension.
Unlike the previous night, the technical did not change the momentum, as Leandro Barbosa found Green in the left block, who found Livingston cutting, for a two-handed slam:
Good things happen when you move without the ball, just ask Shaun Livingston. #NBARapidReplay #NBAonABC #GSWatLAC https://t.co/HT7WUG1fYc
— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2016
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Then after Paul missed again, Iguodala rushed the ball up court and dished to Klay in the right corner for three, giving the Warriors a 30-18 lead with 1:06 remaining.
Both teams traded free throws, Jamal Crawford missed a three badly at the buzzer, and the Warriors took a 33-20 lead into the second quarter.
2nd Quarter – Warriors Maintain Cushion
Curry started the second quarter alongside Livingston, Iguodala, Barnes, and Marreese Speights. The Clippers went with Pablo Prigioni, Crawford, Wesley Johnson, Paul Pierce and Cole Aldrich.
Speights drew a charge on Aldrich, then Barnes got a two-hand slam putback of a Curry missed jumper that tickled the rim and the Warriors sported a 37-25 lead with 9:06 to go before the half.
The teams proceeded to trade baskets, with the Warriors aided by technicals by J.J. Redick and Paul, both converted by Curry.
Steph fed a cutting Speights for an impressive leaning one-handed jam:
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Then Curry found Rush, but Crawford fanagled an and-one triple against Barnes.
Golden State kept their double-digit cushion as Redick used a crossover to get past Green, but Draymond took the inbound and went coast-to-coast as a floater over Jordan trickled in, three seconds later.
Curry, Rush, and Green played “tic-tac-toe”, and the Warriors maintained a 50-37 lead with 5:37 to go.
Steph then went right-to-left on a dribble, flicked the ball back while bouncing with the left hand to Draymond wide open at the top, and Green took some Euro-steps in the lane to get past Jordan for another bucket.
After Redick drilled a three from the right corner on a broken play, Thompson came right back, going down the left side for a layup, using big steps to get just past Jordan’s reach.
Jeff Green missed jump hook, then Curry duped Redick into three foul shots from the deep left wing, and Rivers called a timeout with Golden State up, 54-43, with 3:48 to play.
Jeff Green erred again, his pass stolen by Klay, and Thompson found Barbosa on the break.
The Clippers couldn’t string together stops. Curry was doubled while dribbling down the left side, but he found Iguodala who then found Draymond for an easy layup, after a Crawford three.
Iguodala swished an open three on a cross-court pass from Green, Jordan traveled again against Draymond’s pressure up top, trying to spin into a dribble.
The Clippers ended the quarter with a Paul pull-up over Iguodala, but after Iguodala missed a three, Paul couldn’t get a shot up from beyond the arc as he was doubled by the #SplashBrothers.
The Warriors took a 63-53 lead into the second half as Thompson led all scorers with 18 points, Curry added 13, and Draymond tallied 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Crawford led Los Angeles with 15 points off the bench, and Jordan had 9 rebounds.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @juliecraig_)
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