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The Warriors will never lose again.
That's about all anybody can say now. The margin of error for any Warriors opponent is so incredibly small to pull off the win, and it seemed today that the Clippers played far beyond expectations. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were unstoppable early in the game, and the entire Clippers supporting cast was hitting threes left and right. The Warriors had early foul trouble, tons of turnovers, and twelve too many minutes from Marreese Speights. Yet despite all their sloppiness, they were able to pull off the victory after an amazing fourth quarter, winning 124-117. Was there any more the Clippers could do?
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with a surprisingly quiet 40 points on 22 shots, albeit with 7 lazy turnovers. Klay Thompson had an incredible game, scoring 25 points on 12 shots and playing solid defense down the stretch. Klay even made 10 free throws, a good indicator that he's getting back to his well-rounded offensive game from last year.
Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes also had great games, scoring 19 and 21 points respectively. Draymond especially proved his prowess as a facilitator, dishing out nine assists, including some crucial ones late in the fourth.
The worst aspect of the Warriors' performance must be the backup power forward battle. With Dray in early foul trouble, Marreese Speights and Jason Thompson combined for 14 terrifying minutes at power forward. I was legitimately frightened that Mo Buckets was going to lose us this game. Luke Walton has to figure out that part of the rotation as soon as possible. Do we miss David Lee yet?
The Takes (there's a lot of them)
Hopefully this teaches Walton that the small lineup should be deployed against any opposing big combination
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) November 20, 2015
Welp pic.twitter.com/BQmKEn0pII
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) November 20, 2015
MVP chants for Curry at Staples
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) November 20, 2015
Strange stat holds true: Warriors have won their last five games in which they've given up 40+ in the first quarter
— GSWStats (@gswstats) November 20, 2015
nobody has more fun playing basketball than andre iguodala and i f*****g love him so much for that
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) November 20, 2015
The Warriors had a 100 percent effective field-goal percentage in the fourth quarter.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) November 20, 2015
Nov.: "The Warriors could go 82-0!" April: "Wow! They did it!" 2017: "Oh, wow, again!" 2018: "cool, 82-0, really neat" 2019 *NBA disbands*
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger_sherman) November 20, 2015
The Clips:
How did Harrison Barnes make this!? https://t.co/663s4rW3wl
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) November 20, 2015
How to end a quarter, by @money23green (TNT) https://t.co/52TgGjxIVB
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) November 20, 2015
Dubs take the lead on TNT! https://t.co/n8wT7fxguK
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) November 20, 2015
Little shimmy-shake from @andre pic.twitter.com/Scb2tjFe5x
— Brodie Brazil (@brodiebrazilCSN) November 20, 2015
Watching the Clippers blow this 23 point lead like... pic.twitter.com/Rbulah2i75
— Basketball Forever (@Bballforeverfb) November 20, 2015
(sorry, had to throw in one small jab)
Closing Thoughts
- Welp, the Warriors small-ball unit is crazy good:
This is the best 5 man unit I’ve ever seen.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) November 20, 2015 - Steph led the Warriors in rebounds with 11. Against DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin.
- Chris Paul and Blake both have amazing midrange games. The small lineup bottled them up pretty well in the fourth quarter, though.
- The Dubs have a home game tomorrow against the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls are a strong Eastern Conference team, and since the Dubs are on the back-end of a back-to-back, it could be a tough game. But if the Warriors win, they might not lose for a while, as their next matchups include the Nuggets, Lakers, Suns, and Kings.