Fresh start after break
Move to get McGee into starting lineup helps ignite win over Clippers
OAKLAND » After dribbling the ball behind his back, Warriors guard Stephen Curry lofted a 38foot jump shot into the net. After running the fast break, Warriors guard Klay Thompson threw down a one-handed dunk. After performing a simple crossover, Warriors for- ward Kevin Durant drove from the top of the key and finished with a dunk at the rim.
Those plays represented many highlight reels, all to explain how the Warriors’ dominance led to a 134127 victory over the Clippers on Thursday at Oracle Arena after struggling with complacency leading into All- Star weekend.
The Warriors (45-14) relied on a simple antibiotic to cure their relative woes after losing five of their past 12 games before the All- Star break, and it did not center on Xs and Os, increased film study and intense practices. It entailed the Warriors recharging entirely.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr surfed in Hawaii with his family. After playing in the All- Star game, Curry and Thompson picked up their clubs and chose Palm Springs (Curry) and Cabo San Lucas ( Thompson) to complete 18 holes. And Durant simply caught up on lost sleep with frequent naps.
“The break always does that for every team and every player,” Kerr said. “You need it. It’s a long grind.
You need the time.”
No one arguably needed it more than the Warriors. They made three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. They increasingly saw regularseason matchups, even marquee ones against Oklahoma City, as boring. Their season-long issues with turnovers, fouls and slow starts became more pervasive.
Granted, the Warriors still entered All- Star weekend with the franchise’s fourth- highest winning percentage. Yet, the Warriors’ problems became serious enough for Kerr to instruct the team’s analytics guru, Samuel Gelfand, to look up data documenting the slow starts.
Kerr reported the “most glaring stat” involved the Warriors defensive rating in the first five minutes of each game ( 114) and how it compared to last season (100). Against the Clippers (3027), the Warriors played entirely different.
The strong play started with changing part of their identity. Kerr started JaVale McGee over Zaza Pachulia at center, showing preference for McGee’s athleticism and speed to counter Clippers center DeAndre Jordan instead of Pachulia’s physical play and screen setting. McGee ended with six points on 3- of- 6 shooting and four rebounds in 14 minutes.
The strong play continued with better effort. They secured a 34- 23 lead after the first quarter by holding the Clippers to a 10- of-24 mark from the field and 1- of-10 clip from 3- point range. Curry ended the quarter by throwing off Austin Rivers and Tyrone Wallace with a behind-the- back- dribble and launching and making a 38-footer as time expired. The Warriors created the largest first- quarter cushion since leading by 12 in Brooklyn on Nov. 19.
“This isn’t something we can afford to wait another 10 games, another 15 games and another 20 games and try to turn it on,” Curry said. “We know we’re talented, and we have the winning mentality and the experi- ence. But there’s certain details around how we’re playing that we need to correct.”
It took only one game for the Warriors to do that. The Warriors kept their offensive balance, while staying more disciplined. Curry posted a team- leading 44 points, while going 14 of 19 from the field, 8 of 11 from 3- point range and 8 of 8 from the free- throw line. Thompson added 19 points on 8- of-14 shooting to become the 10th player in franchise history to have at least 10,000 career points. And Durant (24) and Draymond Green (13) added more offensive balance.
The Warriors improved their defensive focus. Clippers guard Lou Williams had 21 points on only 7- of-17 shooting, a far cry from when he posted a career- high 50 points on Jan. 10 in a performance Thompson likened to Williams “playing pickup.”
“They’re definitely approaching it differently,” Green said. “We also understand that we’ve got to prepare for the playoffs. There’s 23 games left now. You want to build habits.”
So much for Clippers coach Doc Rivers wishing that the Warriors would play poorly for at least another night.
“They’re good. They’re going go be good when the playoffs start,” Rivers said. “I guarantee you that.”
The Warriors are not in postseason form, though.
After leading by as many as 18 points, the Warriors allowed the Clippers to narrow the lead. Williams made a 3- pointer that cut the Warriors’ lead to 120-118 with 2:23 left. The Warriors still collected a lot of turnovers ( 15) and fouls (24). And the Clippers scored 56 points in the paint.
But then the Warriors broke the game away. Durant found Warriors forward Andre Iguodala for an open dunk. Then, Curry made a 3- pointer at the top of the key that gave the Warriors a 125118 cushion with 1:47 remaining. Following the Clippers’ timeout, Curry countered Jordan’s pair of foul shots with another 3- pointer for a 128-120 advantage with 1:34 left.
“It was a good step in the right direction,” Kerr said.