Warriors rally, reach 13-0 with 124-117 win over Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers played as perfectly as you can ask a team to play against the Golden State Warriors tonight.

“We wanted to protect our home court”, Curry said.

Stephen Curry was his usual superstar self. The reigning MVP had 40 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. The Warriors shot 2-for-2 on twos, 5-for-6 on threes, and 6-for-6 on free throws.

The Golden State Warriors may never lose again. The Warriors ended the night on a 22-5 run that saw the Clippers miss nine of 10 attempts before a meaningless layup with five seconds to go.

The Warriors fell behind by many as 23 points in the second quarter while Paul was resting, but they did get a glimmer of hope.

Green had his playing time limited with foul trouble but hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third to cut the lead to 12. “(Golden State’s) numbers were insane and you aren’t going to win any games down the wire if you allow a team to shoot like that”. Green repaid his coach’s trust by not picking up another foul, which can be very hard against a team like the Clippers. After the first quarter, the Clippers had outshot the Warriors, 70.8% to 44.4%. G Shaun Livingston sat out with a strained left hip flexor….

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 21 points.

Offense: The Warriors scored 39 points in the fourth quarter. Over the game’s final 32:55, the potent Warriors scored 97 points.

A tight first half continued in the second, as the teams remained deadlocked through the third.

The Warriors typically don’t use the super-small lineup early in games. Paul returned after missing two games with a groin injury he suffered on November 4 against the Warriors at Oracle Arena.

Harrison Barnes had himself a game as well, scoring eight quick points to start the fourth quarter while Curry was on the bench. Ish Smith had 17 points and 13 assists for New Orleans (2-11), which snapped a five-game skid. Thaddeus Young had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Brooklyn.

“The recipe against the Clippers is you can’t give them easy points”, said Curry, who committed seven turnovers. The Warriors’ length and ability to switch constantly on assignments were on ideal display during their comeback.

Should Golden State win their next two games, at home to the Chicago Bulls on Friday and against the Nuggets in Denver on Sunday, they would match the 15-0 season starts made by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and the 1993-94 Houston Rockets. The other was the 1957-58 Boston Celtics. “That’s two games in a row versus these guys where we have had a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter”.

Once whispered about around the National Basketball Association, that the Clippers lack mental toughness, the word is fully out, so loud, so clear and so obvious that most any team feels it can exploit them.

The last quarter of this one was about as wild as you could have seen coming, with both teams trading the lead a few more times. Why can’t they win three more games?

Here is another statistic that shows how special Golden State is.

They notched their 26th straight regular-season home win – a run stretching back to a loss to the Bulls last January 27. The Clippers later admitted to picking their poison by funneling the ball to Iguodala, and he made them pay.