Los Angeles—After a disappointing loss against the Warriors in their first playoff game, the Clippers sent Golden State an abrupt message.
It was all about the Clippers from start to finish. Blake Griffin had a monstrous performance against the Warriors; He scored a playoff-high 35 points in a 138-98 victory Monday night at the Staples Center to
even the series 1-1.
”Blake took it when he had it, moved it when he didn’t,” Rivers said. ”He stayed on the attack, which is what we wanted. Great mental toughness by Blake. He was phenomenal.”
Someone must have given the Clippers a pep talk prior to the game, because they made it unbearable for the Warriors to compete. Los Angeles had a 67-41 comfortable lead at halftime and they continued to have no mercy on Golden State after the break, as they dominated in every facet of the game. Lob City, defense, offense, and surprisingly at the charity strike.
The Clippers cohesiveness and continuity landed them the largest franchise win in a playoff game. Chris Paul anchored the offense with 12 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and five steals. Matt Barnes added fuel to the fire dropping 13 points off the bench.
De Andre Jordan stepped up to the challenge scoring 11 points and denying the Warriors in the paint with five blocked shots. Jordan also hit seven of eight free throws. Newcomer Danny Granger chipped in 15 points.
The Warriors were down by 30 points in the third quarter and they turned the ball over twenty-six times. It’s safe to say Golden State did not show up to play playoff basketball.
Will the Clippers be able to hold the fork down in Oakland? The Bay Area is a tough place to play and the Clippers must enter the city with a sense of urgency. Expect Game 3 to be equivalent to game 1. There were 15 lead changes and 18 ties.
Golden State will try to protect their home court on Thursday. Despite the poor performance by the Warriors, they are not letting one bad game ruin their confidence. Warriors coach Mark Jackson feels like his team will bounce back from one of the worse losses in recent memory.
“One thing I will not do is act like I never saw playoff basketball before; this happens,” Jackson said. “We were awful. We own it. We gotta get better. We’ll get in the lab and make the adjustments. But I will say this like I told my team, for eight-two games we earned the sixth seed, we came here and earned home court advantage so we will not
overreact.”
Tamara is a graduate of Cal State Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. Tamara is passionate about covering sports. She has covered the NBA and Major League Baseball routinely for the past several years. A Southern California native, Tamara developed her skills as a sports journalist while working for various Los Angeles-based news publications.