The champs know they will get all Denver’s got. And with that, here are 4 takeaways from last night to help you keep perspective.
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Harrison Barnes then scored five straight Warriors points in the fourth to cut the lead to 93-90. The Bulls, a contender in the East, stole one in Oracle past year. For reference, he’s averaging five more points than James Harden, who’s second in the scoring race. Chris Paul hit his first 7 shots in a row. Blake was 8 for 12. I think right there in the second quarter was when we stopped. As tweeted by ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, the Warriors posted an unholy effective field goal percentage of 100 percent in that fourth quarter. He scored 13 in the critical fourth quarter and shot 11 of 22 for the night, including 6 of 14 from 3-point range. And then, of course, you need the right person to develop and hone that raw ability. Paul Pierce has been promoted to the starting lineup. Is that the defense’s fault?
Where the loss leaves the Clippers, who were vocal in the pre-season about how they could beat the Warriors, is anyone’s guess as they slumped to a 6-5 record. It’s the Warriors’ trump card and it’s near impossible to stop.
Speaking of the Clippers cooling down at inopportune times, a big reason for that is the absence of sharp shooting J.J. Redick.
The Clippers were remarkable for a half. As a group, they are not letting anything get past them and certainly not games against hated rivals who call them lucky. LA led by 16 after the first quarter and by 23 in the second, with Chris Paul leading the way. But at the moment, nothing is stopping the Warriors – not the absence of their head coach or threats of boredom or complacency.
What Golden State did was tighten up the sloppy play Walton had talked about.
“Down the stretch we just have to be a little more together”, Austin Rivers said.
The lineup has been ridiculously successful no matter who the coach has been. That’s what makes it so much fun to coach these guys. It was going to be a close game, I felt that before the game, and it turned out to be that. Klay [Thompson] hadn’t touched ball in while and made a big three.
“There is always a place for Delly to play on this team because of the intangibles he brings”.
With both the clock and the lead dwindling down late in the fourth quarter, it was easy to wonder why Doc Rivers would ride out the game with two players in their mid-to-late thirties finishing out the game. For many people, Charles Barkley included, the Warriors seemed flimsy, fragile, vulnerable.
They also have a swagger to them.
The Clippers had a 23-point lead – that you knew they would blow. If we can glean anything from the past couple seasons with the Clippers, it is not to overreact to the first month of the season. With Paul essentially out of the play after the pick, Clippers’ defensive maven Lawrence Frank screams to Crawford to sink low. This was a case of a Clippers team running into something that no team in the National Basketball Association has figured out.
The Clippers had listed Paul as doubtful all the way up until about two hours before the game after limiting his participation in practice the previous few days.
Among the insight and humor provided by Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith was an under-the-radar burn of Clippers center DeAndre Jordan.
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I expect the same thing to happen this year.
