NBA: Surging Golden State Warriors defeat Los Angeles Clippers
The Golden State Warriors got their sixteenth win of the season 2010-11 by defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 122-112 on Friday night at ORACLE Arena.
"We got to build this momentum. We got to get this thing moving," Warriors Coach Keith Smart said. "It's like moving a rock up a mountain. We have to keep pushing that rock
and take advantage of this time here, because you don't get these opportunities that often."
Five other Warriors reached double-digits in scoring. Monta Ellis scored game-high 30 points and dished out six assists to snap three-game winning streak of Clippers. Stephen
Curry paved the way for Warriors with 23 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds. Vladimir Radmanovic finished with 13 points, and David Lee contributed 19 points and 9 rebounds for the Warriors.
Blake Griffin record his 25th straight double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers, who lost the 25th game of the season. Eric Gordon had 28
points and 7 assists while Baron Davis added 15 points in the defeat.
Game Story
Both teams played the opening quarter with some quality shots. However, the Clippers got it offensively later on, taking a 39-35 lead into the second quarter.
The Warriors were right back into the game in the second quarter, controlling every aspect of this one, limiting turnovers, making shots in the second, and playing tenacious
defense. Golden State carried a 69-62 lead into the locker room.
Trailing by 12 points early in the third quarter, Los Angeles tied the game at 77 with an unbeatable 15-3 run. Anyhow, the Warriors pushed their lead back to double-digits
at 94-84 on a reverse layup by Dorell Wright heading into the final stanza.
Both teams played with almost same velocity as neither team could take a big lead for most of the game, which had 15 lead changes and 13 ties. The Warriors erased an eight-point
deficit early in the fourth quarter and went ahead by six with more than 6 minutes remaining.
Griffin delivered perhaps his most acrobatic move of the night, a spinning reverse layup that bounced high off the glass -- brought the crowd back into the game.
With the crowd chanting "MVP! MVP (Most Valuable Player)!" as has been the custom of late, Radmanovic broke a 106-all tie on a 3-pointer with a little more than three minutes
to go in the final buzzer. He followed up with another, and Lee and Ellis hit layups to help Golden State go in front by double-digits (116-106) for a much-needed win.
It was the first sign of defense all night in a game where the teams shot a combined 52.7 percent from the floor, and it was enough to put the Warriors over the top. The
Warriors reeled off 10 unanswered points down the stretch to put the game away. Radmanovic hit a pair of 3-pointers during the key 10-0 run in the fourth quarter that sealed the win.
"They hit big shots down the stretch, and we didn't," Baron Davis said. "We just got out executed. It is definitely a game we can learn from, a game we felt we should have
won. We just have to close out the game better."
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