A night after winning a wild overtime game against the Sacramento Kings, the Golden State Warriors came up short in their bid for a five-game winning streak. The Warriors were worn down by the Clippers and dominated all over the court by rookie phenom Blake Griffin. The monster in the middle for the Clippers had one of his best games of the season, finishing with 30 points, 18 rebounds, 8 assists, and a couple more highlight dunks including this reverse on an alley-oop.
The Warriors appeared to run out of gas midway in the third quarter as they fell behind by ten points. They managed to mount a comeback late in the quarter, but then the Clippers would extend the lead back out to ten. Considering the Warriors were on the back end of back-to-back games this result wouldn’t have been checking. However, the Ws managed to make this a tight ball game as they utilized a 13-3 run to tie the game at 105 with 1:10 to go.
After tying the game, the Warriors had the Clippers down to the final two seconds on the shot clock and passing the ball in from out of bounds. However, Blake Griffin stepped up with a monster three. Dorell Wright managed to follow that by snagging a foul while attempting a three. He missed one of the three free throws, but did cut the lead to one. In the ensuing free throw battle the Warriors had a couple opportunities to get the ball back with a chance to take the lead, but they couldn’t convert some key rebounds as they eventually fell 113-109.
The Warriors were led by a monster all-around effort from Stephen Curry who scored 32 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. Monta Ellis struggled after his Friday injury and finished with 17 points on 6-of-21 shooting.
The Warriors now get a day off before hosting the hot San Antonio Spurs on Monday and the equally hot New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday. The Warriors currently sit in twelfth place in the Western Conference, five games back of the final playoff spot.