Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
It is possible for the Warriors to weather the loss of Klay Thompson and post a solid, playoff season anyway. They are proving they can win even with his replacement, Kelly Oubre Jr., collecting enough bricks to construct a house.
Stephen Curry, the best shooter in NBA history, makes this and anything possible, packing enough punch that the Warriors can afford to be punchless elsewhere.
What they cannot do, though, is steal a game without their superstar.
The Clippers sought to get the ball out of Curry’s hands as much as possible, and he couldn’t make them pay enough when they failed in a 108-101 Warriors loss at Chase Center on Wednesday, slowing the momentum of a Golden State team that has now lost twice in six games.
Seven straight from the Clippers from 7:29 to 6:03 in the fourth turned a five-point Warriors lead into two-point deficit. Four of those came from Kawhi Leonard (7-of-12 for 21 points), who didn’t turn it on until late but did not need to. The Warriors responded, but so did Leonard, scoring four points (all off free throws, two of which resulted from a flagrant Draymond Green foul) without Golden State touching the ball. The Clippers never relinquished the lead, and the Warriors, who hung tough, could not mount a good enough fourth quarter to compensate for a human Curry.
Cut him already (we joke, we joke)
Curry finished with a season-low 13 points, and the Warriors cannot absorb nights like this. In the team’s four wins this season, Curry has averaged 39.75 points.
He had a stronger second half than first, but neither was extraordinary. He finished 5-of-17 from the field and just 1-of-6 from deep, not attacking the way he has of late. Curry will have off nights, and against Leonard and Paul George (21 points, 12 rebounds), it’s allowed. What could be more consequential was his leaving the game late with a slight limp, appearing to have rolled an ankle.
He took just seven shots (for five points) in the first half, his end-of-second trey making the line more respectable and brought the Warriors to within 52-51 at the break. But it was not Curry who carried the squad early. Or really anyone on the first unit.
https://twitter.com/KNBR/status/1347043318669082632
Second life
Andrew Wiggins (8-of-12 for 19 points) looks pretty comfortable as the leader of the second unit. With the Warriors running an offense around him, he displayed a knack to get to the hoop and finish, get to the hoop and dish out or pull up, which he did nicely for a jumper on a second-quarter fastbreak.
He went 2-for-4 from 3 and posted just one rebound, doing little else but scoring, but that’s a job he can do.
When he needed a breather, it was Eric Paschall carrying the second unit. Looking much better as a go-to offensive option rather than an undersized big man in a lesser role with the first unit, Paschall shot 7-of-14 for 19 points in 20 minutes. He cooled as the game went on, his big first half forgotten by the end, but he often looked like the All-Rookie First-Team selection that he was last season.
3 and plea
The Warriors started slowly, scoring just 15 points in the first quarter while shooting 1-of-10 from 3. Kelly Oubre Jr., one game after his 4-for-6-from-deep outburst, was back to his struggles. He finished 4-for-13 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3, his season mark now 6-for-42.
What may be just as concerning is Oubre’s court vision, missing James Wiseman wide open under the hoop in the second and forcing his own (blocked) shot.
National moment
Steve Kerr said before the game he did not know if the Warriors would make a statement following an insurrection in Washington.
They did, but with the Clippers’ help.
Before the game, both teams knelt as one during the national anthem, a poignant finish to a pregame that included Kerr saying, “This is who we are,” about a country who witnessed thousands of citizens protest a fair election with violence.
Players on the Warriors and the Clippers knelt during the playing of tonight's national anthem pic.twitter.com/Zh1GgbJLNe
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 7, 2021
