The Golden State Warriors nearly stole one at Staples Center on
Saturday night, but playing the second night of a back-to-back and
with their star player not 100 percent, they didn’t have enough to
pull it off. Instead, Golden State’s four-game winning streak ended
with a 113-109 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
LOS ANGELES
The Golden State Warriors nearly stole one at Staples Center on Saturday night, but playing the second night of a back-to-back and with their star player not 100 percent, they didn’t have enough to pull it off.
Instead, Golden State’s four-game winning streak ended with a 113-109 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Warriors weren’t sure if they would have guard Monta Ellis until close to tipoff. But after pregame warm-ups, Ellis decided to give it a go on his sprained left ankle, injured Friday against Sacramento. He clearly wasn’t the same, finishing with 17 points on 6-for-21 shooting with four assists and five turnovers.
But Stephen Curry answered the bell, scoring 23 of his 32 points in the second half. He also had eight assists and six rebounds.
Curry, who had 34 points in Friday night’s win over Sacramento, scored at least 30 points in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Forward David Lee had 16 points and 15 rebounds. Forward Dorell Wright scored half of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, and swingman Reggie Williams had 16 off the bench for the Warriors.
In the end, Blake Griffin and the Clippers were too much. The rookie power forward finished with 30 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists, while Clippers guard Eric Gordon added 23 points.
That was just enough for the Clippers to stave off a late rally by the Warriors, who spent most of the night fighting from behind. Each time the Warriors made the game close, the Clippers would surge back ahead.
Curry came out of the locker room smoking, and the Warriors whittled down an 11-point deficit in a 1-minute, 17-second span. Curry knocked down three straight jumpers, the last a 3-pointer, to cut the Clippers’ lead to 67-63 with 9:58 left in the third. But barely two minutes later, the Warriors’ hole was back up to 11 points.
The Warriors got it down to 84-82 in the final seconds of the third quarter, after Curry followed a layup with a steal that led to an Ellis jumper. Golden State trailed by four entering the fourth quarter.
As was the patten all game. Los Angeles replenished its lead. The Clippers led 102-92 after a 3-pointer by point guard Baron Davis, a former Warrior, at the 5:05 mark. But Golden State needed just a couple of minutes to get back within striking distance. A Lee free throw, an Ellis layup and a Curry 3-pointer cut the deficit to 102-98 in a blink. The Warriors were again within a couple of baskets.
But they didn’t stop there.
A Wright 3-pointer with 2:04 left cut the Warriors’ deficit to 103-101. Los Angeles forward Ryan Gomes followed with a jumper, but Curry answered with one of his own.
After a defensive stop, Wright tied the game with 1:05 left with two free throws.
The Warriors’ defense then forced the Clippers into a tough spot_ball out of bounds on the side, two seconds left on the shot clock_but Griffin nailed a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded, putting Los Angeles up 108-105.
Wright next drew a foul, knocking down both free throws. The Warriors then fouled guard Randy Foye intentionally, and he missed two free throw. But Wright had the rebound stripped away, and the Clippers recovered. From that point forward, Los Angeles was perfect from the free throw line.
The Warriors lost control of a back-and-forth game with a meltdown at the end of the first quarter. They trailed 23-22 with 1:57 left after an Ellis jumper, the Warriors’ last basket of the first quarter.
The Clippers then ran off an 11-0 run, including eight points in the final 40 seconds. Clippers forward Ike Diogu converted a put back and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Los Angeles rookie forward Al-Farouq Aminu got the rebound and drew a foul.
After he knocked down both free throws, he picked off a pass from Ellis and got a fast-break dunk out of it. Then, after Ellis missed a jumper, Diogu converted another put back just before the buzzer.
The Warriors trailed 34-22 entering the second quarter. Their deficit was as much as 14 before the Warriors made a surge of their own. Williams got it started with back-to-back jumpers, the latter a 3-pointer, followed by three ball from Wright. Just like that, the lead was down to six, 49-43. A couple minutes later, a three-point play by Lee cut the deficit to 53-51.
But, once again, the Clippers closed the quarter with a run. It was 58-54 when Gordon converted a three-point play to get it started. He capped it with free throws, sending the Warriors into the half down 65-56.
— Story by Marcus Thompson, Contra Costa Times
