Golden State Warriors make it 51 straight at home, beat L.A. Clippers

OAKLAND >> As time is rapidly ruing out in the NBA regular season, it’s about that time for the Clippers and their fans to start thinking about the post-season and what it might bring.

The Clippers on Wednesday night took on the defending-champion Golden State Warriors. If Blake Griffin were available, it might have given the Clippers a glimpse of where they’re at and what their chances are to advance far into the postseason and, ultimately, win the franchise’s first title.

Even with a healthy Griffin, the Clippers would not be favored to win the title. That would be Golden State, which defeated the Clippers 114-98 at Oracle Arena to move to 64-7.

To Clippers coach Doc Rivers, it’s going to be a difficult road, Griffin’s eventual retu from two injuries notwithstanding.

“Having won one, I don’t think people who haven’t won it really understand how hard it is to win one,” said Rivers, who led the Boston Celtics to a title in 2008. “You have to have everything go your way and you have to be playing better than good. You have to be playing great and so it just takes that.

“But you’ve just gotta keep pounding at it and seeing where you can go. And that’s where we’re at, that’s where San Antonio’s at. That’s where everyone’s at, that has a chance. And I think we’re one of the teams, obviously with Blake, that has a chance. And that’s all we want, is that opportunity.”

The Clippers led 28-23 after one quarter. It was 28-21 with just 6.7 seconds left in the quarter after a 3-pointer by Jamal Crawford. But Steph Curry dribbled down and scored an uncontested layup, and Rivers’ displeasure with that was obvious. That was the begiing of an 18-4 run for a 39-32 Warriors lead with 7:51 to play in the half.

With that momentum and their crowd going wild, it looked right then like the Clippers would get run out of the building.

But the spell was broken when DeAndre Jordan threw down a monster dunk. And by the end of the half, the Clippers were within 51-49.

Golden State opened the third quarter on a 10-1 run and led 81-72 heading into the fourth. Chris Paul made a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer for the Clippers.

DeAndre Jordan led the Clippers (43-27) with 19 points and 20 rebounds, but starting guards Paul and Redick really struggled. Paul scored 13 points on 4 of 16 shooting. Redick had just nine points on 4 of 13 from the field. Both were 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Austin Rivers scored 16 off the bench.

Steph Curry had 31 points and Klay Thompson had 34 for Golden State.

Advertisement

The Warriors, who have now won 51 consecutive regular-season home games, were without Andre Iguodala (ankle) and Festus Ezeli (knee).

The season series is now over, and Golden State went 4-0 against the Clippers.

Speaking of the Warriors, they are faced with the task of deciding when to sit players down the stretch, whether it’s strictly for rest or because of a nagging injury. It’s not an easy deal for coach Steve Kerr because his team is trying to both secure the No. 1 seed in the West as well as chase the best regular-season record all-time.

The Warriors began play four games ahead of second-place San Antonio in the West. The Chicago Bulls set the mark for best record of 72-10 in 1995-96. Before responding to in inquiry in this regard, Kerr noted that before he thought it was too early to talk about this situation. With only three weeks left in the regular season, the time has come.

“Now we’re right there,” Kerr said. “We need to win 10 to set the record; that’s pretty enticing. It’s really the players’ record. I know they want to get it, so we’ll act accordingly.

“If the players want to go and they’re fine physically, we’ll probably play them. If we see something, if there’s an injury, somebody’s nicked up and we could potentially cause harm, then we’ll sit that player down.”