LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles Clippers sprinted out to a 10-1 record. After a brief cold spell, they blasted the Cavaliers in Cleveland last week. Statement games are overblown in the NBA. But Wednesday night's tilt with the Golden State Warriors at least gave the Clippers a chance to squeak back in the national consciousness as a title threat to be considered.
But much like the past six times they've met, the Warriors disposed of the Clippers and silenced the noise, this time with relative ease: 115-98, a seventh straight Warriors road victory and seventh consecutive win over the Clippers.
Blake Griffin hit an 18-foot jumper 34 seconds into the game. The Clippers actually had a lead: 2-0. But moments later, two Klay Thompson free throws tied it and a Steph Curry technical free throw put the Warriors ahead. They'd never trail again. And it never felt particularly close.
Besides that game-opening jumper, it was a nightmare first quarter for Griffin, who, back from an injury-riddled season, will need to be monstrous for the Clippers to have any chance against the Warriors in the playoffs.
Griffin is known as a high-flying brute force. But his passing has long been an underrated skill. Griffin averages more than four assists per game for his career. But his passing killed the Clippers early on Wednesday.
Griffin had five of the Clippers nine first-quarter turnovers. Draymond Green harassed him into some sloppy fumbles. He had a pair of risky cross-court passes intercepted, victimized multiple times by Steph Curry, who finished with a career-high-tying seven steals.
It sent an historic Warriors' offense out on the break, where they're even more dynamic. Curry found Kevin Durant for a cutting dunk. Durant found Green for a slam. Green found Curry on a leak-out for an easy layup. All three transition hoops were set up by Griffin blunders.
The Warriors were up 20-13. Their offense had been handed a rhythm. It would only get worse.
As the subs started rotating into the game, Golden State flashed both their depth and strategic advantage. Doc Rivers often plays his units hockey-sub style, keeping all of his main pieces off the court for stretches. Steve Kerr doesn't, staggering his All-Stars so that at least two of his four are on the court at nearly all times.
So you had Wes Johnson and Alan Anderson trying to guard Durant and Thompson. The mismatches created easy hoops. A Durant-to-David West-to-a-cutting-Ian Clark set up an and-1 layup. Clark knifed backdoor for another layup moments later, set up by Durant, as the Clippers second unit overhelped.
The second layup put the Warriors up 37-17, a 20-point first-quarter lead. By early in the second quarter, the Warriors had 15 assists on their first 16 made field goals and only three turnovers. At that same point, the Clippers only had four assists on nine made field goals along with nine turnovers.
But the Clippers were able to at least avoid a complete washing. Jamal Crawford came off the bench and scored 21 big points, including a 30-foot bank heave at the shot clock buzzer. Plus the Clippers exploited their biggest advantage in this matchup: the offensive glass.
Griffin and DeAndre Jordan had four offensive rebounds in the first few minutes and the Clippers had 17 in the game. They had the game's first eight second-chance points.
But the turnovers _ and general Warriors dominance _ made that small Clipper advantage rather moot. The Warriors went up 41-21 despite Thompson and Durant shooting a combined 4-of-15 early in the second quarter and the lead remained stabilized.
Curry didn't hit a 3 for only the second time in his past 174 career games _ both in Staples Center this season. He went 0-of-8. The Warriors went 7-of-30 as a team, despite Green going 3-of-5. So it wasn't a typical night from deep. But it didn't need to be.
Curry was disruptive defensively and aggressive at the rim. Thompson added 24 points. Green had 22. Durant, in perhaps his quietest offensive game of the season, still had 16. And Andre Iguodala, looking far more spry than earlier in the season, dunked four times, including a bouncy reverse and a double-pump baseline slam.
Perhaps the most telling stat on Wednesday night was the assists column, Warriors 32, Clippers 15, signifying the chasm between these two teams that played out on the court.
