Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 144-98 drubbing by Golden State
Here are five takeaways from the Clippers’ embarrassing 144-98 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
1. Even Clippers Coach Doc Rivers found his team in a mental stupor during the beat-down by the Warriors in a nationally televised game.
“It’s funny. At halftime I asked our guys, ‘What do you think is hurting us?’ And they said the three,” Rivers said. “I said: ‘You got to be kidding me. We’re even. We’re eight for 13 and they were eight for 13.’ It’s amazing about the mental thing when they make a three.
“[Stephen] Curry had to make a half-court shot to tie us in threes made. But they had 46 points in the paint. The paint is what killed us tonight. Their drives, their cuts, their layups and our guys are still thinking about the three-point shot. That didn’t hurt us. It did later. But in the first half, it was all their layups.”
Rivers was correct. The Clippers and Warriors both were eight-for-13 (61.5%) from three-point range in the first half.
And the Warriors did have their way against the Clippers in the paint in the first 24 minutes, scoring 42 points.
2. The Clippers played no defense at all against Golden…