The Warriors closed the fourth quarter on a 22-5 run and came all the way back from a 23-point deficit to earn a 124-117 road win over the Clippers on Thursday night.
GAME LEADERS
The Warriors closed the fourth quarter on a 22-5 run and came all the way back from a 23-point deficit to earn a 124-117 road win over the Clippers on Thursday night. Stephen Curry scored 40 points, his fourth 40-point effort of the season, while managing to haul in a season-high 11 rebounds. Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes contributed 25 and 21 points, respectively, while Draymond Green added 18 points and nine rebounds. With the victory, the Warriors move to 13-0 and become just the fifth team in NBA history to begin a season with a 13-0 record.
As well as the Warriors finished the game, they began it equally poorly. Both Stephen Curry and Draymond Green accumulated two personal fouls within the opening three minutes of the contest. Meanwhile, Chris Paul and the Clippers couldn’t miss. Paul made each of his eight shots of the game as Los Angeles shot out of the gate. By the time Paul was subbed out with 4:30 remaining in the first frame, he had single-handedly outscored Golden State with his 18 points, as the Dubs trailed big early 30-16. Klay Thompson got the final three of his 15 first quarter points with a three-pointer with 9.0 seconds left in the frame, but the Clippers still expanded their lead to 41-25 at the close of the quarter. In total, Los Angeles shot 17-of-24 (70.8%) from the field in the opening period.
Things got worse before they got better for Golden State, as the Clippers’ lead hit its apex at 55-32 with 7:32 remaining in the first half. But, the Warriors, with the help of Curry, slowly began to turn the tide and eventually worked their way back into shouting distance. The Dubs immediately responded with a 13-5 run to pull within 15 points with 2:33 left in the quarter. From there, the two sides played fairly even the rest of the way, as the game went into halftime with the Clippers leading 68-54. The Warriors’ deficit could largely be attributed to their own doing, as their 10 first half turnovers translated directly to 16 Clippers’ points.
After Blake Griffin made his first three-pointer of the season to put Los Angeles up 79-64 with 8:11 left in the third quarter, the Warriors made another surge. Curry made consecutive shots for four of his ten points in the quarter, as the Dubs closed out the period on a 21-12 run to put themselves right back in the game, trailing 91-85 through three.
Harrison Barnes scored eight points in the first 2:33 of the fourth and final quarter to cut the deficit to a single point, with the Warriors down 96-95. But just as it began to look like the Dubs would crest the hill, the Clippers responded with a surge of their own. Los Angeles immediately went on a 16-7 run to push their lead back to double digits, as Paul Pierce’s three-pointer put the Clippers up 112-102 with 5:05 remaining in the game. Curry had made his own three-pointer right before that shot, and although it wasn’t apparent at the time, it opened the floodgates for Golden State. The Warriors would go on to score on their next four consecutive possessions, including three three-pointers, the last of which from Klay Thompson gave the Warriors a 113-112 lead with 2:43 left in the quarter. Jamal Crawford hit a three-pointer in immediate response to regain the lead temporarily for the Clippers, but Curry sank his own three-pointer on the ensuing possession to give the Dubs the lead for good. Draymond Green converted a wide open layup off of a great inbounds play to put Golden State up 118-115 with 1:08 remaining, and that would prove to be enough. Curry and Thompson combined to go a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line to provide all of Golden State’s scoring for the duration of the game, as the Dubs closed out the game on a 22-5 run to complete the comeback.
The 23-point comeback is the largest comeback of any team in a victory this season. With the win, the Warriors become the fifth team in NBA history to begin a season 13-0. They’ll have a quick turnaround and try to keep the winning streak going when they host the visiting Chicago Bulls on Friday night at Oracle Arena.