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Warriors vs. Clippers: Golden State mounts huge comeback, humiliates the Clips

Despite being down 23 points in the first quarter amidst foul trouble to Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the Warriors ground out the tough win against the Clippers. Led by Steph's quiet 40 points, the Warriors and their small-ball lineup destroyed Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in the fourth quarter. Still undefeated at 13-0, the Warriors need to win their next two games to tie the best start in the history of the NBA.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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)

The Clips:

(sorry, had to throw in one small jab)

Closing Thoughts

  • Welp, the Warriors small-ball unit is crazy good:
  • 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.

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