0 of 2
Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press
The Golden State Warriors might need to make Jackie Moon a full-time member of their organization.
Will Ferrell, dressed in his full Flint Tropics Semi-Pro jersey, was at the Chase Center on Tuesday night to help the Warriors during warmups prior to their game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Whatever advice the former singer-turned-team-owner gave to the Warriors worked. Golden State ended its five-game losing streak with a 112-97 victory over the Clippers.
Jonathan Kuminga played one of the best games of his young career. The rookie scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists in 26 minutes off the bench.
The Warriors needed that from Kuminga, because their top stars had difficult outings. Stephen Curry, who missed Monday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets with a hand injury, had just 15 points on 12 field-goal attempts. Klay Thompson had his best scoring day since Feb. 20 with 20 points, but he was just 9-of-23 from the field.
Los Angeles was out of sorts against the Warriors’ defense from the jump. Head coach Tyronn Lue’s team shot 35.5 percent overall (12-of-39 from three-point range). Nicolas Batum put up solid numbers with 17 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes.
The Clippers have dropped back-to-back games after winning five straight from Feb. 17-March 3.
1 of 2
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
The Warriors have been a difficult team to figure out.
Since winning nine straight games from Jan. 21-Feb. 7, they have lost nine of their last 12 games. That stretch does include Tuesday’s win over the Clippers. Curry really hasn’t played at a high level since the calendar flipped to January (43.0 field-goal percentage, 34.6 percent from three in 28 games).
Klay Thompson is being carefully managed as he works his way back from missing the previous two seasons. He’s been okay, averaging 16.7 points per game and shooting 36.2 percent from behind the arc in 20 starts.
If Curry isn’t going to play at an elite level, the Warriors need their young role players to step up. They were able to do just that against the Clippers.
Kuminga is playing solid basketball since taking on a bigger role last month. He’s averaging 14.9 points and shooting 37.3 percent from three on 3.4 attempts per game since Feb. 1. Jordan Poole was excellent on Tuesday night with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 30 minutes.
We haven’t seen the full version of the Warriors pretty much all season. Draymond Green did play for seven seconds in the game when Thompson returned on Jan. 9, but he’s basically missed two months with a back injury.
Green said on his podcast this week (h/t Sean Keane of Golden State of Mind) that he’s planning to return on March 14 against the Washington Wizards.
It’s reasonable to assume that Golden State will start to look like a Finals contender with Green, Curry and Thompson on the floor at the same time.
Tuesday’s win was a good reminder that the Warriors’ plan to also develop young players while extending their championship window can pay off. If Kuminga and Poole contribute valuable minutes in a postseason series, this team will be hard to beat as long as their trio of stars is healthy.
2 of 2
Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press
In their losses to the New York Knicks and Warriors, the Clippers have shot a combined 66-of-181 from the field (36.5 percent). The percentage was only that high because Golden State took its foot off the gas pedal with a big lead in the fourth quarter, allowing them to make 52 percent of their shot attempts.
There’s no shame in struggling on offense to the Warriors, who have the league’s best defensive rating (105.9) and rank fifth in points allowed per game (104.9). But the Knicks are just 16th in defensive rating (110.9), and the Clippers only managed 93 points in Sunday’s loss.
“They did a good job of just taking away the paint so we couldn’t get downhill, and taking away our attacks early, taking away our early attacks,” Lue told reporters after the game. “Just offensively, we didn’t play the right way. We didn’t share the basketball. Took some bad shots, and that led to them to get out in transition.”
The numbers are bad no matter how you slice it, but the starting five was especially problematic on Tuesday. Batum had an efficient game, but he was tied with Terance Mann for the worst plus-minus of anyone (minus-22).
Three-fifths of the starting lineup failed to break double-digits in scoring. Ivica Zubac had four points and didn’t make a field goal. Reggie Jackson was 2-of-14 for five points. Mann dropped seven points on 2-of-9 shooting.
It’s a testament to Lue’s ability as a head coach that the Clippers are still over .500 (34-33) and in the play-in mix as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. But they have to find consistency on the offensive end if they want to be more than a play-in team.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic did post video of Kawhi Leonard taking shots on the court before tipoff last night. He still hasn’t been cleared for contact after having surgery to repair a partially torn ACL in July.
It might be a long shot for Leonard to return before the regular season ends in five weeks, but his recent progress could be a good sign
Lue and his staff need to get the players who are currently able to play back on track if they want to have any hope of potentially using Leonard for the stretch run and a possible playoff appearance.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
