Warriors vs Clippers Playoffs: What To Expect In Game 7

Warriors vs Clippers Playoffs: What To Expect In Game 7 (Photo: @warriors Twitter account)

STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA — As we await tipoff, here’s a smattering of expectations for Game 7 tonight between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. Let’s start with my own, featured on the Warriors.com Bloggers’ Roundtable:

“Expect the unexpected!”
.
But seriously, on the one hand, the Warriors have the momentum and have planted a serious seed of doubt in the minds of the Clippers. The other thing going for the Warriors is the questionable health of Chris Paul’s hamstring.
.
I’m a big believer in the law of averages, so I think Klay Thompson might have a breakout game, given he was off in Game 6. Steph Curry scored 24, but didn’t hit #HumanTorch mode.
.
On the flipside, it may be difficult to rely on the bench for an away game. That’s made even more glaring considering how many fouls David Lee and Draymond Green have to expend while defending Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. And Jermaine O’Neal might not be 100% after being crashed into by Big Baby. Also will Speights bring the goods, two games in a row?
.
That’s the beauty of the game of basketball. There are so many variables. And probably one or two you overlooked.

Here’s what Stephen A. Smith predicted on ESPN earlier today:

Stephen A. Smith just predicted a 105-103 victory for the #Clippers tonight, with the #Warriors coming back but falling short.

— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) May 3, 2014

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:

“That picture there, it epitomizes what I’m saying,” said Attles, the Warriors’ ambassador who has been part of five of the franchise’s six Game 7s. “I can’t show you a picture of the team that didn’t do what it had been doing all season when it got into a Game 7. That’s the one when people were trying to hit me with cars and things like that.
.
.
.
Jackson played in four Game 7s during his 17-year career – one more than his entire current roster has played.
.
With one each, only Steve Blake, Andre Iguodala and Jermaine O’Neal have ever experienced a Game 7.
.
.
.
“I don’t have to tell my guys anything,” he said. “They know exactly what we have to do.”
.
Maybe he won’t say anything. Maybe he’ll just show them a black-and-white photo.

Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com:

If you wanted a play that epitomized the effort, it was the generously-listed 6-foot-7 Green snatching an offensive rebound from Jordan’s grasp when the Warriors led by two with a little over a minute left.
.
It didn’t seem possible until it happened, which is what we would be saying if the Warriors win this series.

Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group:

So what happens in Game 7? There is no way to know, because every game of this series has been impossible to predict.
.
Which is exactly the way the upstart Warriors love it.
.
“I’m excited to see this young basketball team experience a Game 7 on the road,” Jackson said.
.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun, because a lot of folks didn’t think we were going to be here.”

Ray Ratto of CSN Bay Area:

“Yeah, I think Game 7 will be just like this, I really do,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We have to be able to handle it. But they were the tougher team tonight, I thought.”
.
That was the third quarter. In the fourth, the Clippers took up the grinders’ challenge.
.
“They made tough shots,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said about the fourth quarter, “and oh my goodness, ‘Can we get out of here?’ But that’s how we want to leave games, on fumes. It’s a shame when we leave games with something left in the tank.”

Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle:

It doesn’t get much more dramatic than Paul leading his team onto the court Saturday night, the specter of Donald Sterling’s banishment still hanging over L.A. like its oppressive smog. He can do this. He could do it on one leg. But the Clippers, rattled by the pressure of maniacal defense, have been exposed as a deeply flawed team in this series. Their “We Are One” rallying cry has been matched by “Win for Mark Jackson,” an element more powerful than most of us imagined.
.
It says here that by the late hours of Saturday night, Staples Center will feel hauntingly cavernous. If I’m wrong, and the Clippers prevail, that’s a hell of a story, as well.

Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:

“Seven thirty that ball’s thrown up, I’ll be right there,” Paul told reporters. “I’ll be ready (physically). Can’t wait.”
.
Said Jackson: “He’s a tremendous basketball player with a tremendous will and a great competitor. He’s Chris Paul.
.
“We treat him like he’s Chris Paul, and it doesn’t change. With all due respect, the guy’s a special talent. I think you get into trouble when you treat people differently according to whether they’re hurt or 100 percent. The great ones find a way.”
.
O’Neal is one of the Warriors with experience playing in a Game 7, and Andre Iguodala is another.
.
“It can be an emotional roller coaster, the highs and lows,” Iguodala said. “It’s about having a good balance, weathering the storm because it’s going to be a game of runs.”
.
Unlike Iguodala, Paul experienced a Game 7 win — the Clippers beat Memphis in 2012.
.
“This is what you work for home court for, to come back here for Game 7 and go out there and compete,” Paul said.

Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group:

“He looks a little tired,” TNT analyst Steve Kerr said of Paul. “I think the Warriors have worn him out a little bit. … It’s definitely possible for the Clippers to win without Chris Paul going nuts. I feel like if the Warriors are going to win, they will need a big game from Steph.”
.
The Clippers are rightfully the favorites. They are the better, deeper team, and they are at home. They also have Blake Griffin coming off a down game, and the Warriors are thin up front.
.
But the Clippers are also under the most pressure, staring at an upset and a second-consecutive first-round exit in the playoffs. And, most important, Paul doesn’t look healthy.
.
Paul’s right hamstring woes appear to be mounting. And the heaviness of his task appears to be taking a toll. He chased Curry around feverishly for most of the first five games, exerting massive energy to keep Curry uncomfortable. On offense, he had to run the show with 6-foot-7, 210-pound Klay Thompson clinging to his every move.
.
In Game 6, Paul wasn’t so diligent about that assignment. Especially when Curry ran around screens, Paul couldn’t keep up and was asking his teammates to switch.
.
Certainly, the Clippers can ride Griffin. And Jamal Crawford is more than capable of having a big game to carry the Clippers. But a hobbled Paul is relief for the Warriors.
.
While Paul seems to be breaking down, Curry seems to be getting stronger. Who’d have thought that a year ago, when Curry was laboring in the playoffs through yet another ankle injury?

Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area: