LOS ANGELES – The Golden State Warriors duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 52 points and the Warriors beat Los Angeles 110-106 to extend their winning streak to ten games.
The Warriors had nothing to play for with the NBA’s Western Conference top seed all sewn up, but ending their bitter rivals seven-game win streak was motivation enough.
“Obviously, we have everything locked up in the West right now for the regular season, but this was a big win for us,” said Curry after the game. “It just felt good to get that win and keep our streak going.”
Curry scored 27 points with four three pointers and Thompson had 23 as the “Splash Brothers” dominated the second half to steal the season series from LA winning three out of four games.
“They want to win, and they hate losing,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “Even with a game that doesn’t mean a whole lot in the standings, it’s hard to keep these guys down.”
David Lee chipped in 17 points for Golden State in a feisty statement game that may have an impact on the post season.
“We are getting ready for the playoffs. They [Golden State] are a playoff team,” said Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. “They’re somebody that you’re going to have to go through to make it where you want to be. We’re going to see them later on down the line, so we have to just be able to take the punches.”
Marreese Speights was instrumental off the bench for the Warriors. Speights scored 13 points and brought passion and energy to the Warriors in the second half. Thanks to Speights, the Warriors bench outscored the Clippers reserves 34-12.
Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 40 points 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Chris Paul had 23 points and 9 assists and JJ Redick cooled off from his torrid shooting stretch of late with 14 points on 4 of 12 shooting in 42 minutes.
“When you walk away with a loss, it doesn’t matter if you were dynamic or how many points you scored,” said Griffin after the game. “It doesn’t really mean a lot. There were plenty of things I could have done to help us play better. The bottom line is that we need to be a better team.”
The Clippers led by as many as 17 points in the second half, but the Warriors heated up in the second half as the Splash Brothers combined for 19 straight points in the third quarter.
“Once we let them get loose, they’re shot makers and it was hard to turn them off,” said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers about the duo of Curry and Thompson.
The two teams were neck and neck throughout the final 15 minutes of the game as neither team could pull away. With the Warriors leading 103-102 in the waning seconds of the game, Matt Barnes stepped on Andre Iguodala’s foot as he was attempting a three and Iguodala was awarded three free throws.
Normally, Iguodala, a 56 percent free throw shooter this season would be the perfect person to have on the line if you’re Los Angeles. But the forward knocked down all three shots to give Golden State a 106-102 lead.
Paul made a layup to bring the game within two, but seconds later he was called for a backcourt violation that all but ended the Clippers hopes of victory.
“I dropped it,” said Paul matter of factly. “I was coming towards the ball and Harrison Barnes did a good job of stepping over me and I dropped it into the backcourt.”
The matchup touted two of the game’s best point guards as State Farm friends; Curry and Paul went after each other all night. At one point, Curry drove baseline where he went behind the back with a crossover dribble that put Paul on his butt.
“I knew he [Paul] was trailing and I thought I could make a move toward the basket and get some creativity in between,” said Curry of the play. “As soon as I saw him go down, I knew I had to shoot it and just see what happened. You get a little adrenaline rush because those are cool moments. Thankfully, the shot went in. I didn’t see the bench’s reaction, but they said everybody was going crazy.”
Oddly, the sell out Staples Center of 18,230 was composed of a lot of Warrior fans. Loud chants of “MVP” could be heard every time Curry went to the line and many fans cheered after the final buzzer rang.
“The home court advantage was just not there for us tonight,” said Griffin of the atmosphere. “It’s kind of like when we play the Lakers, maybe even worse, it would be great if it wasn’t like that.”
Game Notes:
Draymond Green missed the game with a shin injury. Griffin had a season-high second field goals and it was his second game with 40 or more points this season. Rapper Drake, a fan of the Toronto Raptors, caught the game courtside.
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