The Dubs lost a 31-point lead in the second half and fell to the Clippers 135-131 on Monday night at Oracle Arena. With the defeat, the series is tied at 1-1 with Game 3 set for Thursday night in L.A.
The Warriors lost a 31-point lead and home court advantage, falling to the Clippers 135-131 in Game 2 at Oracle Arena. With the defeat, the series is tied 1-1 with Game 3 coming up on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
TEAM LEADERS
For the Dubs, this loss stings in multiple ways. Not only did they lose a game they controlled for the first 28 minutes, but they lost DeMarcus Cousins to a left quad injury in the first quarter when he was trying to chase down a steal. Cousins walked back to the locker room under his own power, and is expected to get an MRI on Tuesday.
With or without Cousins on the floor, the game was marred by fouls. The teams combined for 64 fouls and 76 free throw attempts. And even though the Dubs converted on 40 of their 45 attempts from the charity stripes, they couldn’t get any of their regular field goal attempts to fall when they needed them most, and it didn’t help that Kevin Durant fouled out with a little over a minute to go, putting an end to his 21-point, 5-assist night.
After setting a franchise season-high with 15 made free throws (on season-high matching 16 attempts) in the first quarter, the Dubs picked up the pace during a 40-point second period. Stephen Curry was in the middle of all the action, scoring eight straight points for the Dubs to spark a 15-5 run to end the first half. Curry made all four of his shot attempts in the period, including three from distance, the last giving the Dubs a 23-point advantage – their largest of the game to that point – with two seconds left in the half.
While Curry was knocking down shots from beyond the arc, Kevon Looney was handling his business in the paint. Looney had a playoff career-high 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the first half alone, and he’d go on to finish with 19 points.
The Dubs built on their lead in the third quarter behind the stellar play of Draymond Green, who dished and dime his way to multiple assists in the period before knocking down a 3-pointer to put the Dubs up by 30.
But the Clippers didn’t throw in the towel. Instead reserve guard Lou Williams scored 17 of his 36 points in the period as the Clippers out-scored the Dubs 44-35 in the period, cutting a 31-point deficit down to 14 by the start of the fourth quarter.
After making 15 of 21 shots in the third, the Clippers continued to chip away at their deficit in the fourth, using an 13-1 run over a 90-second stretch to get within two points with 5:10 left in the period. Williams’ 20-foot jumper would tie the game at 128-128 with 1:10 left in the game, but Curry answered with a 3-pointer to put the Dubs back in front.
Curry's fifth 3-pointer of the game gave him 29 points, but the Dubs wouldn't score again. Meanwhile, the Clippers scored on their final five possessions of the game and took their first lead since the first quarter on a 3-pointer from Landry Shamet with 16.5 seconds left. The Clippers outscored the Warriors 85-58 in the second half, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor over the final two periods.
Now with a few days to let this one fester, the Warriors will look to bounce back in Game 3 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.