The Golden State Warriors lost to another shorthanded opponent on Monday evening, falling to the Los Angeles Clippers 103-102. The Clippers did have most of their rotation, including Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac available, but absent James Harden, Los Angeles was still at a clear disadvantage on their home floor. While the Clippers offense struggled all night, the Warriors offense was even worse.
The Clippers took control of the game in the first quarter, but simply played with their food. The Warriors
finished the game 35-for-92 (38.0%) from the field and 10-for-41 (24.4%) from three, but both of those numbers were inflated by a strong fourth quarter. Los Angeles easily should have been ahead by 20+ points if not for 20 turnovers.
Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler both had solid games for the Warriors. Green struggled from three, but was an excellent passer and defensive force. Butler recorded 24 points on 16 shots and 6 rebounds. The rest of the Warriors roster left something to be desired.
Gary Payton II found consistent success back-cutting his way to 14 points, but Steph Curry had an unusually ugly game. While he scored 27 points it came on 9-for-23 shooting and 4-for-15 from three. Curry missed some open looks, but also clearly forced several attempts, likely frustrated by the team’s offensive woes.
The Dubs came close to capitalizing on the Clippers failure to put the game away multiple times in the fourth quarter.
With the deficit down to seven, Curry drew a foul and fired up a high acrobatic shot that fell in. Inexplicably, despite an incredibly late whistle, the referees ruled the foul was a non-shooting play. Kerr and Curry were fuming throughout the game, frustrated by a hesitant whistle. Already pushed to the edge, Kerr exploded when the referees did not call a clear goal tend by John Collins on the following possession. Kerr was ejected from the game and the Clippers soon were back ahead by double digits.
The Warriors continued chipping away with their head coach in the locker room. Butler made a pair of threes to pull Golden State within four points once again, but Kris Dunn answered with a corner three.
Minutes later, Curry finally found some semblance of consistency, making threes on back-to-back possessions. Just like that, the Dubs deficit was just a single point with 1:03 left in regulation. However, after forcing a missed shot, the Warriors were unable to corral the rebound and Curry committed an unnecessary foul on Dunn that sent him to the line. Most importantly, it was Curry’s sixth foul of the game.
Dunn extended the Clippers lead to 103-100 with his free throws. With Steph on the sidelines, Green drove inside for an easy layup to pull the Dubs back within one with 32 seconds remaining. Golden State’s defense got the stop they needed with 6.9 seconds remaining, but Butler missed a difficult fade away.
Following the loss, the Warriors fall to 19-18 on the season, continuing to make a path to climbing out of the play-in more difficult. Nevertheless, they will return home to host the Bucks on Wednesday night at Chase Center.
