Warriors make it seven in a row over Clippers in a rout
The look of bewilderment crossed the faces of the Clippers in the first quarter, all of them looking startled at what was already transpiring against the Golden State Warriors.
A 20-point deficit will do that to you.
And it would only get worse, the stunned looks by the Clippers resurfacing when they fell into a 27-point deficit in the third quarter on the way to a 115-98 loss to the Warriors on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
That is now seven consecutive losses the Warriors have handed the Clippers.
As for this season, the Clippers have lost five of their last seven games, a sign of a team going in the wrong direction.
“I really thought we never got our spirit back after the beginning,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “Thank God for that second group. But other than that, it wasn’t much of a game.”
It was a difficult night all the way around for the Clippers, their emotions getting the best of them, the three technical fouls they got a sign of them losing their composure.
They turned the ball over 14 times, nine in the first quarter.
They didn’t play much defense for long stretches, allowing the Warriors to shoot 47.7% from the field.
Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were unable to deliver.
Griffin picked up a technical foul midway through the fourth quarter for pushing Zaza Pachulia with his elbow.
Griffin had 12 points and nine rebounds, but he made only five of 20 shots from the field and committed seven turnovers.
Paul had 15 points, but he wasn’t the dominant factor the Clippers needed against the Warriors.
J.J. Redick never got going, finishing with only two points in 22 minutes, missing three of the four shots he took.
The best moments for the Clippers were provided by Jamal Crawford, who had 21 points off the bench.
All this took place on a night when Kevin Durant was not nearly at his best, missing 12 of his 17 shots, including four of his five three-pointers, to finish with 16 points.
But Draymond Green pulled his weight, producing 22 points, five rebounds and four assists. Klay Thompson followed up his 60-point explosion from Monday night with 24 points. And Stephen Curry was solid, scoring 19 points, handing out six assists, grabbing four rebounds and picking up seven steals.
The Warriors had 32 assists on 42 made field goals.
The Clippers didn’t help their cause from the start, being too loose with the basketball. Their nine turnovers led to eight easy points for the Warriors.
And this was while the Warriors had started the game going 0 for 7 from the field before Durant scored.
On top of all that, Paul was assessed a technical foul early in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter, Rivers was whistled for a technical foul when the Clippers had the basketball.
“We had early turnovers,” Paul said. “Me getting an early tech like that, you can’t do that in a game like that. But like I said, we gave them a lot of baskets. A team like that that moves the ball as well as they do and shoot it as well as they do, you can’t give them points. We were playing transition defense all night.”
Twitter: @BA_Turner
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