Make this make sense:
The Los Angeles Clippers shot the lights out of Oracle Arena, hitting a scorching 18 of 23 shots from three while the Golden State Warriors shot 14 of 40.
And the Warriors still won!
Stephen Curry scored a game high of 42 points, including the game winning layup while Kevin Durant scored 35, and changed the momentum with a four point play in the court, as the Warriors edged the Clippers 129-127.
Rarities for Warriors proved to be the difference
This was a very fast paced, high energy and strange game chock full of outliers. The Warriors actually won the battle in the paint, scoring 48 points to the Clippers’ 40. Early foul trouble to the Clippers’ bigs opened the lane for the Warriors to feast, and that they did. If the Dubs weren’t scoring easy baskets in the paint, they were getting to the line. Golden State’s advantage at the line in the first half kept the game from getting out of hand.
The Warriors’ second half foul trouble ended up dwindling their advantage at the line. The Clippers ended the game with 29 free throw attempts, but four point plays by Durant and Curry extended Golden State’s advantage.
The Warriors entered tonight’s game ranked 22nd in the league in free throw attempts with 21.6 per. They ended the game with 36.
Solid habits on defense forming
Granted, the Warriors could have played a lot better on the perimeter. But that doesn’t negate the positives they had. The Warriors’ defense forced 17 turnovers and scored 25 points off of them. The Warriors also hustled in the paint, swatting eight shots. All in all, the defense was spotty especially from the arc. but the defensive momentum the Warriors had in the third period was hard to ignore.
Jonas as a starter
Fresh off of his career high performance against the Mavs, Jonas Jerebko hustled his way into the starting line up at the four. The reasoning for this was the spacing. Kerr likes to have at least three shooters on the floor, and he figured Jerebko could be an extra. Great thought in theory but, Jerebko struggled offensively. He shot 1 of 5 from three and had seven points on the night.