Culture of Hoops

Los Angeles Clippers Trounce the Golden State Warriors in Game 2

Image courtesy of Kimberly N./Flickr.

Image courtesy of Kimberly N./Flickr.

The Los Angeles Clippers were clearly set out on avenging Saturday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. In one of the most lopsided games of the season, the Clippers absolutely embarrassed the Warriors 138-98 in an all-around dominating and degrading performance.

Heading into Monday’s contest there were questions surrounding Doc Rivers’ LA squad and whether or not they had enough heart. It’s safe to say that those questions were all answered and buried off somewhere deep in the Pacific Ocean. Led by Blake Griffin, who only scored 16 points in 19 minutes due to foul trouble in Game 1, he was able to score 35 points on an efficient 13-for-17 shooting performance in only 30 minutes of action in Game 2.

Aside from Blake’s phenomenal game, the Clippers bench, led by Danny Granger and Hedo Turkoglu, put on a show of their own, combining for 58 points while playing a majority of the second half due to the lopsided affair.

Stephen Curry was completely shut down and frustrated until he had a quick scoring spurt in the third quarter, finishing with a team-high 24 points and eight assists. But he didn’t have much help as his backcourt mate Klay Thompson got in early foul trouble, picking up three in just the first quarter. With Thompson being forced to sit early, the Warriors dug themselves into an early hole that they simply could not climb out of. Thompson, the Warriors’ leading scorer in Game 1 was held to just seven points in 20 minutes.

The Clippers relentless Rivers-enforced defense forced Golden State into 26 turnovers compared to LA’s 13. Los Angeles was able to turn many of those turnovers into fast break points, outscoring the Warriors 25-13. Twelve of the 13 Clippers players scored, and seven were in double figures.

Los Angeles shot a scorching 56.6 percent from the field and 48 percent from beyond the arc. The Warriors, on the other hand, shot just 21 percent from long range. Not good for a team that lives and dies from three-point range. Let’s just say that on Monday night, they died.

Golden State will look to bounce back on Thursday night as the series heads to the Bay Area for what is sure to be a raucous Oracle Arena crowd. The Warriors are going to need all that they can get coming off of such a demoralizing beat down. It was more apparent than ever how important center Andrew Bogut is. Withouth Bogut, the Warriors lack defense, basketball IQ and most importantly, toughness. A Clippers team who many label as “soft” and “Hollywood” straight up punked the Warriors. It wasn’t a good look for Mark Jackson’s squad.

After such a thrilling overtime game between Memphis and Oklahoma City, the Clippers shed that aforementioned Hollywood label easily as there wasn’t any drama whatsoever in Game 2.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

To Top