Golden State Warrior guard Stephen Curry (30) is jubilant after scoring a three pointer. Curry led with 33 points against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sun Nov 28, 2021 (AP News photo)

Golden State Torches the Clippers 105-90

By Barbara Mason

It was a lazy hazy Sunday afternoon game and both the Golden State Warriors (18-2) and the Los Angeles Clippers (11-9) played in similar fashion. It took three quarters for Golden State to really get going. Stephen Curry and Otto Porter Jr. both torched the Clippers with amazing play in the fourth quarter.

Sunday afternoon the Warriors took on the Clippers at Staples Center and the Warriors did what they did to many of their opponents and won it 105-90. It’s a difficult task to remain on task with the Tuesday night matchup with the Phoenix Suns looming.

In addition this afternoon matchup is tough, in fact, this is the only 12:30 game that Golden State has all season. It is difficult to get your game on in such an early start and we would see this from both teams in the first half.

It was an interesting first half for the Warriors with a mix of great defense and issues offensively. The Warriors led at the half 44-42 with both teams shooting around 37%.

The Warriors shooting average is 114 per game and with 44 points at halftime it will be a challenge to reach anything close to that average. We have seen the Warriors go off in the second half of games so nothing is out of the realm of possibility for these guys.

Stephen Curry finished the half with 13 points and that was it for double digits for the whole team. The Clippers Paul George finished the half with 12 points and so it was an ugly game for both teams.

The fact that the Warriors were leading at the half after a horrible start was a positive. Golden State started the game with six turnovers but finished the half with nine so they got back on track with that. Steph Curry had five steals in the first half another plus for the Warriors.

Going into the third quarter the Warriors needed more offensive rebounds, keeping those turnovers at bay and more play without fouls. After getting some great looks that missed, more consistency in that department would go far so eye on the prize and leave future games in the future.

Shots started falling in the third quarter for the Warriors and with improved rebounding the highest scoring third quarter team in the league came to life. The Warriors led by eleven points mid-way through the quarter but had that lead trimmed down to a single point when the Clippers started to heat up.

The only disappointment for Los Angeles was Reggie Jackson who hadn’t come to the party through three quarters; he remained scoreless. The key to this quarter was not only the scoring from Steph Curry but also his passing and finishing. Jordan Poole finished the third quarter with three shots from downtown.

The Warriors had their largest lead of the game mid-way into the fourth quarter 84-70. Otto Porter Jr continued to lift up the team with his amazing play having an enormous afternoon with 18 points. 19 steals for the Warriors was another key to this game. The final score was 105-90.

The one thing that we all learned from this game was do not, and I mean do not get Curry angry. He will make you pay. After a technical (questionable) on Curry in the fourth quarter he came unglued and when that happens he will burn you, he will incinerate you. He will channel that anger into his play on the court and then you are in real trouble as we saw today.

Curry finished with 33 points, seven from downtown. Jordan Poole had 17 points and off the bench Otto Porter Jr, was great with 18 points. They held Reggie Jackson to a scoreless game and forced numerous turnovers from Paul George in the first half. It took Golden State an entire half to get on track but when they did they were a runaway train.

So now we have the marque matchup between the Warriors and the Phoenix Suns next Tuesday night. It will be a battle of the titans in this two game series as these two teams will meet for a second time on Friday night. Tipoff on Tuesday will be 7:00 PM.