Thompson, Curry star in Warriors’ close win
los angeles — Klay Thompson scored 32 points, fellow Splash Brother Stephen Curry added 23 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 115-112 on Saturday to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
The Warriors were coming off a 32-point drubbing at Portland a night earlier that ended an 11game winning streak.
They appeared highly motivated to erase that memory from the opening tip, shooting 56 percent in the first half and twice leading by 15 points in the second quarter.
Draymond Green had his NBA-leading 11th triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to help the defending champions improve to 49-5.
Jamal Crawford scored 25 points off the bench, Chris Paul added 24 and DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 21 rebounds for the Clippers. They fell to 19-6 without injured Blake Griffin.
Pablo Prigioni’s 3-pointer left the Clippers trailing 115-112 with five seconds to go, long after both teams’ best players had gone to the bench. That brought Thompson, Curry, Green Harrison Barnes back in a hurry. Andre Iguodala’s pass was stolen by CJ Wilcox, but his panicked shot fell well short of the basket as time expired.
The Clippers again trailed by 15 early in the third when they briefly matched the Warriors basket-for-basket during a furious scoring stretch to close within five on a dunk by Jordan off Crawford’s alley-oop pass.
Jordan threw down some highlight dunks that had fans roaring and Crawford scored on a onehanded scoop shot, getting fouled as he crashed to the floor and making the free throw for the threepoint play.
Hassan Whiteside had 25 points and 23 rebounds returned from a one-game suspension to help the Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards 114-94. —