ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Los Angeles Clippers came back to Oracle Arena for the first time since the Golden State Warriors won Game 6 of their epic clash in the 2014 NBA Playoffs a little over five months ago. #DubNation was in high anticipation of the Dubs’ return to #Roaracle.
However, Clippers coach Doc Rivers announced before the game that Blake Griffin and Chris Paul would get this preseason game off, somewhat deflating the intense rivalry between the two franchises. Shortly before tipoff, Andrew Bogut was listed with an illness by the Warriors.
FIRST QUARTER
That meant Ognjen Kuzmic would get the start mano-y-mano against DeAndre Jordan, just two days after facing Dwight Howard.
Kuzmic started out well, stealing the ball on a bad entry pass by the Clippers as the Warriors defense rotated well.
Harrison Barnes, who started in place of Andre Iguodala, got off to a promising start with an exquisite up-and-under move:
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Klay Thompson was on and off tonight, but on one particular early play, he got a nice high screen by David Lee and drilled the stop-and-pop at the top of the circle. Matt Barnes‘s inbound pass then caromed off the foam border of the bottom of the backboard and Stephen Curry found himself with a steal at the three-point line. He promptly nailed the trey. Rivers called timeout and it was 9-3 early, with 9:46 to go in the first.
Here are some other highlights in the first frame, including some things that the Warriors will want to take note of from the game tape:
- Barnes leveled J.J. Redick on an on-ball screen, although part of it was supplied by a flop by Redick, but Thompson couldn’t connect on the wide-open three-pointer.
- Barnes had a bad pass on a fastbreak, a bouncer that hit Lee on the shin. The spacing just wasn’t there.
- Marreese Speights, who was the first sub off the bench for the front line (Kuzmic, in this case), got a volleyball spike of a block, but Lee threw the outlet pass directly to Redick and behind a streaking Curry.
- Some Triangle action with Lee being the pinch post then setting the high pick looked nice, but the Warriors squandered it with another bad pass, ironically a repeat of Barnes’ telegraphed bounce pass to Lee on the repost. Alas, the score was still tight, 18-17 with the Clippers ahead.
- Draymond Green got a warm welcome from Roaracle when he finally checked in. Yet he added to the sloppiness with “reckless abandon” attacks and three first-half turnovers. He hadn’t looked good in the previous game against the Rockets, either.
- Even when Iguodala converted an open corner trey on a feed from Green, it was at least the second time that a Warrior had passed up an open jumper with the Clippers collapsing, and Green seemingly not wanting to make the wrong play. Things didn’t seem in rhythm.
That’s when Festus Ezeli finally came in and breathed some life into the Warriors.
First, he had a swat-down of guard Jared Cunningham‘s drive. Straight into the floor. Then, Ezeli followed that up with a nice, deliberate turn-around in the post, fading away to the left baseline after shifting his weight towards the middle into his defender.
Then Ezeli threw down a lob from Iguodala.
The quarter came to a close with some great defense by Thompson on Jamal Crawford‘s buzzer-beater attempt from downtown. Thompson played all 12 minutes of the first quarter. The Clippers were up 33-27. Curry and Cunningham led all scorers with 8 points.
SECOND QUARTER
Justin Holiday got to start the 2nd quarter, which would normally be considered rare for a training camp player this late into the preseason, but Brandon Rush was sidelined with back spasms.
Holiday made another case for being the 15th roster player after a great closeout on Crawford. Then, setting up for the early halfcourt set, he went backdoor as Crawford tried to anticipate the pass to Holiday from Iguodala up top. Result: slam dunk alley oop, Holiday.
Both ends of the play were very athletic.
Not too long after that, Curry scissored his way through the Clippers’ halfcourt defense to find Holiday wide open from the left elbow. Without any hesitation and any pressure from playing with four stars of the Warriors, Holiday rose and drilled and three.
At this point, it’s hard for the Warriors not to sign Holiday. If they don’t, even though the Santa Cruz Warriors retain Holiday’s D-League rights, any NBA team can sign him if the Warriors don’t, much like Seth Curry‘s deal with the Memphis Grizzlies last year.
And yet, the Warriors’ concentration level just wasn’t there.
On a Curry defensive rebound, Curry turned the ball over as the outlet lost steam to three Warriors, none of whom had looked back to get the ball, and in a half-hearted trot to the frontcourt. Curry showed a bit of “come-on-guys-look-for-the-ball-and-oh-yeah-run-a-little-faster” exasperation.
Even less impressive was Curry dribbling into the corner and making a bad pass with nowhere to go, his second such play of the game. Thompson followed that up by dribbling the ball out of bounds on a right-side lane penetration.
The first half ended with the Warriors up, 62-60. Redick led all scorers with 18 points. Curry added 12 and both Thompson and Holiday had 7.
Aside from Ezeli’s entrance, the Roaracle hadn’t really gotten anything from the Warriors in a row to get juiced about.
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