In their previous meeting, the Los Angeles Clippers came within two points of knocking off the Golden State Warriors. That two-point win was the Warriors’ smallest margin of victory in the season. Early on, this one looked like a slog, as two of the league’s best defenses conspired with an early daytime start to send this game back to the 1990’s.
But then the Warriors started to pull away. Though they couldn’t put the Clippers all the way to sleep, it was definitely time to brush teeth and get a book out. Credit to Los Angeles, they would not go away. Paul George got hot, and the Clippers defense was just pesky enough to keep the game within reach.
Until they got under the Warriors skin.
It seems to have started when role player Josh Hartlestein got a little too excited about blocking Jordan Poole’s driving layup, but there were a number of increasingly physical plays. George feigned a push from Andrew Wiggins and leaned a shoulder to flatten Curry on one play. Then Reggie Jackson didn’t apply his brakes and smashed into Curry on a shot attempt.
But the final straw was the referees. After a series of questionable calls and non-calls, Curry was hit with a technical after becoming irate about a non-whistle on a play that he was pretty clearly fouled on.
You could see Curry get mad. You could feel it. And then when the ref whistled away a made shot on Curry’s next possession, I knew the Clippers were in trouble when Curry just smiled and nodded. The sort of “ok, I’ll see you soon” nod that means Curry is about to take it personally.
Curry finished with 33 points (7-13 on threes), 5 rebounds, 6 assists & 6 steals.
Next up, the Phoenix Suns and Warriors will each host a game at home as the two hottest teams in the league face off twice in a row.
As always, this is just a short thread for our community. We will be back with more analysis and reaction tomorrow. Great game!
The interesting thing is isolating how great Wiggins defense on Paul George was yesterday... despite the fact that PG13 kept scoring on him.
Didn't get to watch the game, but from the highlights seems like there was a lot of cheering for the Warriors. Notably, on Steph's first 3 of the game (also the W's first points) and a slick pass in the 3rd quarter at 9:35 you can just hear the crowd's awe at the Warriors. I don't know if this is just a lot of W's fans in LA (probably), but I'd like to think that this is just crowds all over marveling at how special this team is.
For the 3rd quarter play I'm thinking about: https://youtu.be/BxqvarOu_Ys?t=251