Category: Golden State Warriors

Durant’s 37-point effort rallies the Warriors to a 110-107 victory over Spurs after Curry injures his ankle again

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Oakland- The Golden State Warriors won their seventh game in a row, but it was not easy as the San Antonio Spurs played their hearts out but could not prevail. The Warriors needed the win to keep their hopes alive for winning homecourt advantage for the playoffs. The Rockets lead the Dubs by one-half game and own the tiebreaker. The Warriors lost their star, Steph Curry, early in the first quarter when he tweaked his right ankle. He was able to two free throws, but the Warriors sent him to the trainer’s table for treatment and Steph was done for the night. Three other players were not available Thursday night. David West missed his second game in a row with an infected cyst on his arm. Andre Iguodala was out with a sprained left wrist, and Jordan Bell was sidelined when he re-injured his right ankle. Steve Kerr had to use Kevon, Looney, Omri Casspi, Quin Cook, and Nick Young and hope that the Warriors could beat the Spurs. The game was not pretty, but they were able to come back late in the fourth quarter and beat the Spurs 110-107.

Both the Spurs and the Warriors were cold to start the first quarter. The Spurs led 3-0 when Steph Curry was fouled as he attempted a layup with just 2 minutes and 32 seconds played in the game. Steph turned his right ankle when he landed. He tried to walk off the injury, but it was apparent that he would not be able to continue. Steph went to the free throw line and made the two free throws, and that finished his night. The Warriors got the offense going late in the quarter, and they outscored the Spurs 28-21.

The Warriors could not get anything going in the second quarter. They scored just 13 points against Brooklyn Tuesday night, and the Warriors were cold again in the second quarter. The Spurs took advantage. The Dubs built the lead to nine 34-23, but San Antonio went on a 14-2 run to take the lead 37-35. The Spurs outscored the Warriors 29-18 and finished the half with a 4-point lead 50-46. The Spurs LaMarcus Aldridge had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Durant scored 14, JaVale McGee 7, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green each had 4.

The Warriors played better in the third quarter. They have owned the third quarter, but on Thursday night, that did not happen as they were outscored 37-32 The game was tied at 78 when the Spurs went on a 9-0 run to finish the quarter leading 87-78. In the fourth quarter, the Spurs met every Warrior challenge and led 103-96 with under 3 minutes to play. The Warriors vaunted defense came through, and Kevin Durant scored 14 straight points to tie the game at 105. Draymond Green made a fantastic layup with his left hand to put the Dubs ahead by two 1:30 left. Klay Thompson made two free throws, and they led 109-105.  The Spurs scored and trailed by two 109-107. They fouled KD but he missed one, and the Spurs had a chance to tie if they could make a three-pointer. The Spurs got the ball to LaMarcus Aldridge, and he was fouled attempting a three. He made the first free throw but missed the second. He made the third, and the Spurs trailed 110-107. They got the ball back with 2.3 seconds left and, after a timeout, took the ball out from mid-court. Bryn Forbes missed a three-pointer with 0.01 seconds left, and the Warriors celebrated the win.

Game Notes and Stats. After the game Warrior head coach Steve Kerr announced that Steph Curry will travel with the team to Portland but will not play Friday night.

The Warriors won their 7th in a row and improved to 51-14. The Spurs dropped to 37-28.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 30 points and 17 rebounds. Kyle Anderson had 12, Davis Bertrans 13, DeJounte Murray 14, Tony Parker 11, and Rudy Gay 10. The Warriors were led by Kevin Durant’s 37 points, 4 assists, 11 rebounds, and four blocked shots. Draymond Green had a triple-double with 11 points, 10 assists,12 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. JaVale McGee added 13, Nick Young had 12, and Shaun Livington had 9 points, 7 assists, and seven boards. Klay Thompson had a tough night. The Warriors needed a big night from Klay the ball was not going down for him. He finished the night with 12 points. He made two 3-point shots in 7 attempts.

The Warriors play the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night in Portland.

Curry drops 34 points to lead Warriors to a 114-101 win over Nets

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Photo credit: @NBA

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors won their sixth game in a row Tuesday night as they defeated the Nets 114-101 at the Oracle Arena. The Warriors needed a win to keep pace with the Houston Rockets as the Rockets downed the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this evening. The Warriors remain half a game behind the Rockets in the race for the best record in the NBA.

The Warriors, who have been trying to get off to good starts in the first quarter, seemed to have forgotten how to do it. They fell behind early with a 12-6 deficit before they went on a sensational 29-2 run to take a 35-16 lead just before the end of the first quarter. In fact, at one point in the run, they went 25-0 for the first time in team history.

The Nets hit a three just before the buzzer to make it 35-19.

The second quarter was a nightmare for Steve Kerr and the Warriors. They did everything wrong. They scored just four points in the first 5:44 of the quarter. They failed to play defense, and turned the ball over eight times in the quarter.

The Nets took advantage of the Warriors’ miscues as they went on a 13-2 run to grab a five-point lead of 36-31. The Warriors regained the lead 42-39 when Curry nailed a 3-pointer. Brooklyn kept coming back and led 53-48 at the end of the first half.

The Warriors scored just 13 points in the second 12 minutes of action. It was the fewest points in any quarter this season. They committed 12 turnovers in the half, and they are 12-9 when they commit 16 or more turnovers in a game.

JaVale McGee gave the team some energy when he tallied eight points early in the third quarter. Brooklyn matched the Warriors shot-for-shot until late in the quarter. Curry came back about halfway through the period, and he took charge of the offense. He made two consecutive 3-pointers, and the Warriors outscored the Nets 38-27 to finish the third quarter with a six-point lead of 86-80.

The Warriors increased the lead to 95-81 to complete a 22-5 run. Klay Thompson found his shot and Andre Iguodala made two key buckets to put the Warriors up 101-85. The Nets were finished as the Warriors were relentless on defense and they were able to pound the visiting team 114-101.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, the Warriors won their 50th game of the season. The Warriors have won 50 or more for five straight seasons. In the first 67 years of existence of the franchise, the team had won 50 or more game just four times.

The Warriors are now 50-14 for the year, and the Nets are 20-45. The Nets have lost four in a row and 12 of the last 13.

Scoring leaders for Brooklyn were D’Angelo Russell with 22, DeMarre Carroll 19, Spencer Dinwiddie 13, and Caris LeVert 10.

The Nets’ bench outscored the Warriors 34-15.

Steph Curry led the Warriors with 34. Klay Thompson had 18, Kevin Durant, 19, JaVale McGee 12, Draymond Green 16. The Warriors committed 17 turnovers and improved to 13-9 in games in which they have made 16 or more turnovers.

Jordan Bell had to leave the game when he re-injured his right ankle. X-Rays were taken and turned out to be negative.

The Warriors are 10-0 when JaVale McGee starts the game at center.

“Nothing is set in stone at that position,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “JaVale has done a good job. We kind of played center by committee here for a while now and there is no telling how the rotations will work. It’s based on matchups and based on how things are going, but I will definitely lean on all those guys at some point.”

They are 23-3 vs. the Eastern Conference and 10-2 at home.

David West, Zaza Pachulia, and Omri Casspi did not play.

Up Next: The Warriors host the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night at 7:30 pm PT.

 

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Warriors come in with five-game win streak, host Brooklyn tonight

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Photo credit: @warriors

On the Warriors Podcast with David Zizmor:

In their last game, the Warriors defeated the Atlanta Hawks 114-109, but the Warriors had to work for it. Stephen Curry hurt his ankle in the second quarter, scored 15, but left in the third quarter. Curry stopped off on his way back to Oakland at Augusta at the Masters for a couple of days of golf and knowing he’s on the links and is scheduled to be in the lineup tonight against the Brooklyn Nets at Oracle Arena.

The Warriors had three days off and they might rest some of their starters against Brooklyn and it’s not only against a team like the Nets, but any other NBA team if they can rest their players, they will take advantage of it if they have a big lead in hand. The Nets are not a good team and nowhere near the challenge that the Portland Trailblazers, who the Warriors faced on Friday night.

David does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Curry tweaks ankle, but Warriors hold on for 114-109 win over Hawks

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Warriors finished the three-game road trip in Atlanta as they beat the lowly Hawks, 114-109, but it was not easy. The Warriors won their fifth game in a row since the All-Star Game and thought that the Hawks would be a pushover. The Hawks had different thoughts, and they gave the Warriors all they could handle before going down.

Warriors star Stephen Curry tweaked his ankle in the first quarter. He played the second quarter and dazzled the crowd as he scored 15 points. He played about five minutes in the third quarter and Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, took him out of the game for precautionary reasons. The Hawks won the third quarter and the game went down to the wire. The Hawks had the ball with six seconds left in the game and could have tied it if they could make a three-pointer. Fortunately for Golden State, Andre Iguodala stripped the ball from Kent Bazemore and sprinted down the court and finished with a dunk to seal the victory.

The Hawks were very competitive in the first quarter as they kept pace with the Dubs. The Warriors led by seven, 23-16, but went cold as the Hawks took the lead, 30-27, when they went on a 16-4 run. Iguodala made a three and Nick Young followed with a three of his own to regain the lead 33-30. The Hawks made a free throw and the period ended with the Dubs ahead 33-31.

The Warriors decided that they would establish superiority in the second quarter. Curry got hot as he scored 15. Young made two more threes, and Durant was solid with 12 points in the first half. The Warriors outscored the Hawks, 29-19, and finished the half with a 12-point lead of 62-50. The Dubs went to the locker room knowing that they own the third quarter and felt they were about to blow out Atlanta.

In the third quarter, Atlanta matched the Dubs shot-for-shot. Fans have to remember that the NBA is a very competitive league and even lowly teams can rise up and beat the elite teams if they catch them on an off-night. The Warriors led their guard down, and the Hawks won the quarter 34-28 to close the gap to just six points when Hawk guard Dennis Schroder nailed a three at the buzzer. The Dubs lead 90-84 at the end of three quarters.

The Warriors increased the lead to fourteen 101-87, and it looked as if they were going to cruise to victory. They were able to hold the Hawks off, but with 2:18 left in the game and leading by eleven 111-100, the Warriors went cold.  In addition, they started to make bad decisions and turned the ball over several times to give the Hawks life. They failed to score a point until there were just 18 seconds left in the game. The Hawks went on a 9-0 run to make it a two-point game. The Hawks fouled Durant. If Durant makes the two free throws, it would have sealed the win, but Durant made just one, and that gave the Hawks hope that they could tie the game. The Warriors played great defense as Iguodala bottled up Bazemore and made the steal and ran the court and finished with a bucket to ice it for the Warriors.

The final score was 114-109.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, the Warriors improve to 49-14 while Atlanta drops to 19-44.

With his first three-point bucket in the first quarter, Stephen Curry reached the 200 mark for the sixth season in a row. He’s the first player in NBA history to accomplish that feat.

Even though he missed most of the second half, Curry tied with Kevin Durant for the scoring lead. Curry and Durant each tallied 28. Draymond Green scored just two points in the game, but he helped out with nine assists and seven rebounds. Klay Thompson chipped in with 15, and Nick Young added 16.

The Hawks were led by former Warrior Kent Bazemore along with Dennis Schroder. Bazemore tallied 29 and Schroder kicked in 27. John Collins had 16, and Taurean Prince recorded 15.

Curry felt that his ankle was fine, and he wanted to continue to play, but the Warriors’ coaching staff had other ideas.

“Basically their call,” Curry said. “Frustrating, but big picture, I understand…I don’t think it’s going to be anything that will keep me out.”

Kerr said Curry was “limping a little bit” in the third quarter, leading to the “precautionary” decision to take him out of the game for good.

Andre Iguodala had this to say about the steal that won the game: “Kent lost the ball, and it just fumbled to me.”

Kerr said the steal was “a hell of a play, an attacking, defensive play. Pretty impressive basically just to take the ball from Kent and go down and finish the game…That was amazing.”

Up Next: The Warriors return home to face the Brooklyn Nets at Oracle Arena Tuesday night March 6th at 7:30 pm PT.

Tony Renteria on Headline Sports: Durant continues to lead Warriors scoring; McCutchen catching onto being the face of the Giants; Ex-49er cut by Colts

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photo from sfgate.com: San Francisco Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen takes the field on Wednesday February 28 at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona

Headline Sports with Tony Renteria:

1 Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant has led the Warriors in scoring time and time again and did so once again with a 32 point game as Golden State continues to roll with a 109-101 victory over the Washington Wizards

2 Tony sees the addition of Andrew McCutchen as a benefit to the San Francisco Giants line up and will he be the face of the Giants this season

3 Ex-49er Frank Gore is now an ex-Colt the Colts decided not to exercise his option and extend him. Gore 34 will go shopping to sign with another club

4 Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden says he is going to shake up the Raiders roster and Tony explains what holes he will need to fill

5 The San Francisco 49ers Ruben Foster looks like he’s in a boat load of trouble. Foster whose facing domestic violence charges and is accused of dragging his girlfriend by the hair out of his house might be either be suspended or released from the 49ers as the case is under investigation.

Tony Renteria does Headline Sports each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Curry and Durant lead Warriors to a 109-101 win over Wizards

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors played the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night in the Nation’s Capitol. The Wizards, playing without their star John Wall, had won 10 of the last 13 games in his absence. The Wizards’ Bradley Beal increased his scoring and the Wizards, taking a page out of the Warriors’ playbook, started moving the ball and finding the open man to make up for Wall’s loss. The Wizards beat the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and the Warriors felt that the Wizards might tire late in the game. The Wizards did not fold as they stayed with the Warriors for most of the game, but the Warriors were too tough, and the Dubs won 109-101.

The Warriors started strong as they raced out to a 15-point lead, 36-21, after 12 minutes of action. Kevin Durant tallied 16 and Steph Curry added 10. The Wizards fell behind 42-26 before they went on a 10-0 run to close the gap to 42-36. The Wizards’ defense shut down the Warrior offense. The Warriors scored just six points in more than six minutes of play in the second quarter. The Wizards took the lead, 53-52, but buckets by Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala put the Warriors back in front. The Wizards made a 3-point shot to tie the game at 56, but Curry sank two free throws to put the Warriors at the end of the first half, 58-86. Durant led the Warrior attack with 18, and Otto Porter also tallied 18 for the Wizards.

The Warriors had another terrific third quarter. As they have done so many times this year, they did their job on offense, and the defense shut down the Wizards. The Warriors started the quarter with a 16-4 run. They outscored Washington 27-14 and led 85-70 heading into the fourth quarter. The Wizards won the fourth quarter as they outscored the W’s by 7. It was too little, too late as Curry refused to wilt and won 109-101.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors’ defense shut down Wizards guard, Bradley Beal. Beal came into the game averaging 26.5 points per game in the games since John Wall was injured. The Warriors’ Klay Thompson did a fantastic job as Beal scored just eight points in the game. The Wizards were led by Otto Porter’s 29 points and 10 rebounds. Markieff Morris had 16, Tomas Satoransky 11, and Kelly Oubre recorded 17. The Warriors held the Wizards to 40% from the floor. However, the Wizards took 19 more shots than the Warriors. The Wizards outrebounded the Warriors, 50-39, and they recorded 25 assists.

The Warriors shot 52.1% from the floor. They made 10 3-point shots, Durant led the Warriors with 32. Curry had 25 including four 3-pointers. Thompson had 13. Draymond Green had a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Andre Iguodala pitched in with 14. The Warriors had 10 steals and eight blocked shots. Iguodala blocked three and JaVale McGee had two. The Warriors are now 48-14 while the Wizards drops to 36-26.

After the game, Bradley Beal commented on the Warriors’ defense:

“They took a lot of my shots away. They doubled. They switched,” Beal said. “Their main objective was to take the ball out of my hands.”

A lot of the credit went to Thompson.

“Klay did a really good job,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “We assign Klay with the most difficult job night after night.”

Up Next: The Warriors finish the three-game road trip in Atlanta on Friday night. It will be the first game of the season between the two teams. Game time is at 4:30 pm PT.

Golden State Warriors Podcast with David Zizmor: Warriors cruise in win past Knickerbockers; get set for Wizards Wednesday night

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On the Warriors podcast with David:

The Warriors continue their roll with a 125-111 win on Monday night in New York at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. For the Warriors, Klay Thompson had 26 points followed by Stephen Curry’s 21 points. You can see the Warriors are starting to turn thing around as the Oklahoma City game was like the big test. You saw them kick it into gear against the Clippers against the Thunder. They really went into overdrive.

They were closer to cruise control in the Knicks game. New York in the first half made the Warriors sweat a little bit and in the third quarter is when the Warriors normally excel ahead of themselves in the last three or four years they just put everything together. The shots just started to come easy, the defense played really well by the time the third quarter was over, the game was kind of out of reach for the Knicks.

Hear it all David does the Warriors podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Warriors use a strong third quarter to overwhelm Knicks as they cruise to 125-111 win

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors had a tussle on their hands for the first 24 minutes of the game against the New York Knicks Monday night at Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple.

The Knicks showed the Warriors a lot of gumption as they went toe-to-toe in the first half and led by one-point 64-63. The game resembled the one the Warriors played last week against the L.A. Clippers. The Warrior offense was clicking, but the Knicks kept pace as the vaunted Warrior defense could not shut down the Knicks’ attack.

The Warriors took control of the game in the third quarter when they outscored the Knicks by 21 and then cruised to a 125-111 victory.

The Knicks’ Emmanuel Emudiay, who was obtained in a trade with the Nuggets, scored 14 of his 20 points in the first quarter. The Warriors led 21-16, but the Knicks went on a 7-0 run to take the lead 23-21. The teams seemed to score at will, and the Knicks finished the first quarter leading 39-37.

The Warriors played better defense in the second period, but so did the Knicks. The Warriors won the period 26-25 and finished the first half trailing by one.

The Warriors, as they have done so many times this season, got their offense in sync and their defense stopped the Knicks cold. Steph Curry led the attack as he scored 14 points in the period to lead the onslaught. They finished the quarter with a 21-point lead, and the Knicks could not catch them. The Warriors won by a score of 125-111.

Game Notes and Stats: Jordan Bell played 13 minutes in his first action since injuring his ankle in January.

With the win, the Warriors improved to 47-14; while the Knicks drop to 24-38.

After the game, Curry was asked why the Warriors excel in the third quarter. Curry responded: “I still don’t have an answer as to why the third quarter is what it is, like anything specific, beyond just the fact that we can wear teams down over the course of 48 minutes.”

“And it might take 24, 26 minutes to really create that separation and gain that momentum, and we come out of the halftime with some juice, some energy, and it’s winning time. So that’s my best explanation for it, and hopefully, it continues.”

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 26 points. Klay made four 3-point shots in six attempts. All the Warrior starters were in double figures. Kevin Durant had 22, Steph 21 including four 3s, Draymond Green and JaVale McGee each had 10. David West had 11, and Andre Iguodala added nine.

The Knicks were led by Emudiay with 20. Enes Kanter had 10 and Tim Hardaway, Jr pitched in with 14.

The Knicks, however, had four players coming off the bench to score in double figures: Trey Burke scored 18, Frank Ntikilini 13, Kyle O’Quinn 14, and Lance Thomas 11.

Up Next: The Warriors play the Washington Wizards Wednesday night in the Nation’s Capitol. Game time will be at 5 pm PT.

 

Warriors play defense from start to finish as they knock off Thunder in 112-80 blowout win

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Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND — The Golden Warriors decided to play defense for the entire 48 minutes of Saturday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder as they won 112-80 at Oracle Area. The Thunder had embarrassed the Warriors in the two previous meetings this season. Thunders’ stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George sent the Warriors down to a 17-point defeat in Oklahoma City on November 22, and they routed the Dubs 125-105 at Oracle Arena on February 6. The Warriors have not lost the season series to the Thunder since the 2012-13 season, and they played Warrior basketball Saturday night.

The Warriors won the first quarter 24-19 and the second quarter 28-26 to finish with a seven-point advantage 52-45 at the end of the first half. The Thunder closed the gap to one, but the Warriors went on a 37-11 run that included 30 points in the last 8:48 of the third quarter. They continued to shut the Thunder offense down as they outscored OKC 28-14 in the fourth quarter to 112-80.

Game Notes and Stats: After the game, Kevin Durant commented about the team’s performance: “We’re champions. We’re 46-14, and we’ve got one of the best road records in the league,” Durant said. “We’ve been doing this the last two years. We’ve got to be us.”

Draymond Green was hit with his 15th technical foul of the season. If he gets one more technical, he will be suspended for one game. Warrior coach Steve Kerr said he is not concerned at all about the situation. Green commented: “I’m an emotional guy. I play with high emotion, I love this game of basketball. I play it with passion. I’ll continue to play with passion.”

The numbers show how good the defense was. Russell Westbrook, the defending NBA MVP, was held to just 15 points. Westbrook did have a double-double, but the Warriors shut down him down. PAu George, who tallied 38 in the last game at Oracle on February 6, was held to just five points. Carmelo Anthony had 14, and Raymond Felton added 11. The Warriors held the Thunder to  33% from the floor, and the Thunder made just nine 3-pointers in 34 attempts. The Warriors outrebounded them 54-43, and the Dubs had eight steals and six blocked shots.

The Warriors were led on offense by Kevin Durant. Durant knocked down 28. Steph Curry had 21, Klay Thompson 11, Draymond Green 10, and Nick Young chipped in with 16.  The Warriors are now 46-14 for the year.

Kevin Durant received an honor Saturday night.

Durant received the January NBA Cares Community Assist Award for his giving off the court to help kids, families and other charitable causes for education and communities. He donated $3 million last month to the University of Texas where he played and matched Colin Kaepernick’s $10,000 in the quarterback’s “10 for 10” campaign, Durant’s contributions helping a local organization doing community-based justice work.

“I’ve got to continue to leave my mark off the basketball court as well,” Durant said. “Look forward to doing that.”

Up Next: The Warriors head East for a three-game road trip. They play the New York Knicks Monday night in New York. They meet the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and finish the trip in Atlanta against the Hawks.

Curry scores 44 to lead Warriors in 134-127 victory, despite Clippers’ fourth-quarter rally

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors returned to action Thursday night against the vastly improved Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena. The Clippers beat the Warriors at Oracle Arena the last time they played. Clippers’ Lou Williams knocked down 50 points that night, and the Warriors were determined to not let that happen again. The Warriors, behind Steph Curry’s 44 point performance, Thursday night sent the Clippers down to defeat, 134-127, but it was not easy.

The Clippers started poorly this year, but after the trade that sent Blake Griffin to Detroit, they have turned their season around. They still have Austin Rivers, DeAndre Jordan from last year, but they added Danilo Gallinari, Milos Teodosic, Tobias Harris, and Lou Williams. The Warriors owned the Clippers when Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were their starters. They are gone, and the Clippers are on the rebound.

The Warriors made one change to the starting lineup Thursday night as Steve Kerr decided to start JaVale McGee at center in place of Zaza Pachulia. The move was made to jump start the offense in the first quarter, and the strategy worked as the Warriors raced out to a 34-23 lead at the end of the first 12 minutes of play. It was the first time since November 19th that the Warriors finished the quarter with an 11-point advantage. Curry electrified the crowd as he made a three pointer from half-court as the buzzer sounded to end the period.

The Warriors continued to play well in the second period. At one point, they led 57-40 when Nick Young connected on a three. The Clippers, however, came back on a 9-0 run to close the gap to eight. Curry connected on a three late in the first half to up the lead to 15 70-55, but Danilo Gallinari matched Steph with a three of his own as the buzzer sounded. The Warriors finished the half leading 70-58. Kevin Durant had 12, Curry 15, Thompson 17, and Draymond Green seven. Austin Rivers and Gallinari led the Clippers with 10 apiece. Teodosic had nine, and Lou Williams was held to five.

The Warriors, who have owned the third quarter this year, got off to a good start as they increased the led by 16 after Curry knocked down a three-point shot. Kevin Durant followed with a three of his own, and it looked as if the Warriors were on cruise control. The Clippers cut the deficit to 12 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Clippers went on a 9-0 run to make it a two-point game. They trailed 104-102. The Warriors behind three big three-point baskets by Curry and one by Durant were able to meet the challenge. They met every Clipper challenge as they showed they still know how to play defense and what they have to do to win a close contest.

Game Notes and Stats: With the win, the Warriors improve to 45-14 and had just 23 games left on the regular season schedule.

The Clippers are now 30-27 but are in the race for the playoffs. The loss time was just the sixth in the last 19 games played and their coach, Doc Rivers, has made them very competitive.

Curry had a double-double with 44 points and 10 assists and he made 8 threes in 11 attempts. Durant knocked down 24, Thompson 19, Green 14. McGee tallied six points and had four boards. Pachulia also scored six. David West had 10.

The Warriors shot 62.7% from the floor but they allowed the Clippers to take 12 more shots in the game.

The Clippers shot 50% from the floor.

The Warriors recorded 31 assists and on defense, they had eight steals and eight blocked shots. The Warriors committed 15 turnovers. At one point in the first quarter, Steve Kerr called a timeout as the Warriors turned the ball over three straight times.

The Clippers had seven players in double figures. Austin Rivers 14, Gallinari 15, Jordan 16. Harris 22, Teodosic, 14. Montrezl Harrell pitched in with 15 and Lou Williams finished with 21. Williams made several big three-point shots when the Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors’ next opponent will be the Oklahoma Thunder Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

The Thunder, behind Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Steve Adams, pounded the Warriors the last time they met at Oracle. In fact, the Thunder has won two of the three games played so far this season. The Warriors have their work cut out for them as they have to figure out a way to stop the Thunder attack. Saturday’s game should be a barn burner.