by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors played their first pre-season game Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Clippers and won 112-94.

The game, as one might expect, was ragged at times but the players are trying to fine tune their game and so play was sloppy. The Warriors had their first unit of Andrew Bogut, David Lee, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala start the game, Lee played most of the first half and had 11 points.

Curry and Bogut each scored 10. The Clippers’ Blake Griffin led his team with 18 points at the half and finished with 24 points for the game.

The Clippers had 57 wins last season and they have added Spencer Hawes who is seven feet one inch tall to back up DeAndre Jordan at center. Both men looked to be in great shape and should be formidable opponents this year. J.J.Redick, Chris Paul,Matt Barnes round out the starting five for LA and Jamal Crawford, the NBA’s 6th man of the year, came out blazing off the bench. Glen “Big Baby” Davis is another physical force that the Warriors will have to deal with again this year.

Back to the game- The Warriors led 56-52 at the half. Steph Curry fouled out with 7:13 left in the third period but Klay Thompson filled the void as he picked up his game and scored 12 points in the third period and finished the game with 20. Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes as well as Leandro Barbosa saw considerable playing time. The Warriors played the fourth quarter with most of their reserves. Marreese Speights, Nemanja Nedovic, Justin Holiday and James Michael McAdoo all saw quite a bit of action as the W’s won by a final score of 112-94.