It finally happened. The Clippers defeated the Warriors for the first time since December 25th, 2014.
The most shocking thing about this victory, is that it was crafted by the unlikeliest of Clipper teams. The Clippers were playing a team consisting of 4 rookies, with 2 of them starting. Sure, the Warriors were missing Steph Curry & Klay Thompson, but they were still playing Kevin Durant & Draymond Green. That’s a former MVP and an All-Star, against a team missing basically 5 starters.
The Clippers fired on all cylinders last night. They shot 49% from the field, 45% from three, scored 60 points in the paint, and out-rebounded Golden State 46-32. Los Angeles did every little gritty thing they needed to do in order to pull out this win.
Final📊
Lou: 50p/2r/7a
Tyrone: 22p/6r/4a/2s
Trez: 14p/7r
C.J.: 12p/3r/2s/1b
DJ: 10p/12r/3a/1s/1b
Evans: 7p/3r/6a
Sam: 4p/6r/2a/1s
Reed: 4p/4r/1b
Sin: 2p/2r/1a
Wes: 1r/1a/3s📸: https://t.co/lbwM3xkkne
🎥: https://t.co/4qsDf6LpWE#ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/SEolF7dxz4— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 11, 2018
The bad news for the Clippers is that they lost their great rookie C.J. Williams. Williams went down with an ankle sprain during the 3rd quarter. He was fresh off of hitting a game winner against the Atlanta Hawks.
Lou Williams led the way for the Clippers with his phenomenal 50 point game. Sweet Lou put up an amazing stat line of: 50 points, 7 assists, on 59% shooting (16/27). Lou had a blistering 3rd quarter, where he scored 27 out of his 50 points.
.@TeamLou23 drops 27 points in the third quarter alone, en route to a career-high 50 points. #NBAVote
📸: https://t.co/lbwM3xkkne
🎥: https://t.co/3iEthzZQY7 pic.twitter.com/ABaYP5HDQ0— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 11, 2018
He’s made a strong case for All-Star consideration, in a Western Conference full of stacked guards. In fact, Lou Williams has averaged the 3rd most points a game out of all guards (30), since December 20th.
Not to be lost in this shuffle, was the gutsy play of Clippers’ rookie Tyrone Wallace. In just his 3rd NBA game, Wallace posted: 22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, on 63% (7/11) shooting.
📊 22p/6r/4a/2s | Tyrone Wallace joins Lonzo & Kuzma as only rookies this season with a 20-point game in his first 3 NBA games. #NBAVote
📸: https://t.co/lbwM3xkkne
🎥: https://t.co/BHpM8t4IBr#ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/V3FBabk02c— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 11, 2018
The other big story in this game was Kevin Durant scoring his 20,000th point. Durant scored his 20,000th point with 1:41 remaining in the second quarter.
By halftime Kevin Durant had a career night 💪 #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/PA8uiMXkno
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) January 11, 2018
He became the second-youngest player in the NBA, behind Lebron James, to reach that milestone. In fact, Durant was on fire this game. He led the way for the Warriors with 40 points on 14/18 shooting.
The Final Clip: This was the best win of the season for the Clippers. It seems like that statement has been said a lot, but it’s true. Last night was a game that could have been easily written as a loss for the Clippers. Instead, this team managed to show an unbelievable tenacity, that resulted in snapping a 12 game losing streak against the Warriors.
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