Following their loss to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, the LA Clippers are faced with an even tougher challenge in the form of the defending NBA Champions. On Monday night, the Golden State Warriors come to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers, a team they've absolutely dominated over the last three years. Since Christmas Day of 2014, the last time the Clippers defeated the Warriors, Golden State has won 10 consecutive games over LA, the latest of which haven't been close.
With Chris Paul now out of town, the Clippers look to Blake Griffin to lead them into battle night-in and night-out, but it's going to take a complete game with contributions from every player who takes the court to take down the juggernaut everyone's trying to catch out West.
“It'll take us playing our game, not getting sped up, but also not playing too fast or too slow,” said Griffin, who averaged 18.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists against the Dubs last season. “Just playing our game. Obviously, we've got to defend at a high level, defend multiple actions. They have weapons at almost every position, so we got to put together a solid game for 48 minutes. You see them go down early a lot and then fight their way back in it so it's a full 48 minute game.”
The last time the Clippers defeat the Warriors, Steve Ballmer had owned the team for about half a year and the iPhone 6 had just come out, and Matt Barnes, Jordan Farmar, as well as Reggie Bullock were on the roster playing significant minutes for LA. Since then, Oakland's team has seen three NBA Finals appearances and two NBA Championships in 2015 and 2017.
“Them being the defending champions just means you know you have to play a great game to beat them, but if that's the motivation we need to play great basketball, then we're probably in trouble,” added Griffin. “It's early in the season, so it'll be a good test for us, but as far as measuring stick for the whole year, I don't know.”
Austin Rivers, who has broken out of his shooting slump from the first two games by averaging 17.3 points on 50% from the field and 58% from beyond the arc over his last three, hasn't been a part of a Clippers team that's defeated the Warriors, but he's looking to change that by doing what works best for the team.
“Sometimes we get into this thing where we slow down, do this slow-ball, that's never worked for us. When we play up and down, when guys make extra passes, we win the game. If we do that s**t next game, we'll lose by 30. It's a learning experience. We've got to get better man.
“We've got to figure out a way to play the same way within doubt. That's one thing the Warriors do. When they're down 30, they still play the same way. They play the same way every game and that's what we need to do. I think we will, we have a culture that's bought in. We've definitely slowed the ball down in those fourth quarters and we gotta continue to go up and down.”
If the Warriors have ever looked beatable or vulnerable, it's been during these first six games of the season. They've started the season at 4-2, losing to the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies, while also coming from 18 down to beat the Wizards by three on Friday night. On top of that, they're hosting the Detroit Pistons in the front end of a back-to-back on Sunday before flying to Los Angeles for their game against the Clippers.
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