Clippers really want this one
OAKLAND — There is a calmness the Clippers have been seeking, and failing to find, whenever they face a Golden State Warriors team that seemingly performs with tranquility when facing them.
The Clippers are determined to beat the Warriors, to the point where it has affected their play during their games and has left them perplexed as to why they can’t get past a Golden State team they both respect and despise.
The two teams will tangle again Saturday night in Oakland in a nationally televised game, and the Clippers will seek to break a sevengame losing streak against the Warriors.
“I think the main thing with us is we’ve wanted to beat them so bad that we forced it every time,” Clippers guard Austin Rivers said. “We want to beat them so bad that every time we play them, we force it, and they know it and they use it to their advantage and they beat us every single time. I know this, because Mo [Speights] tells us. Mo tells us some of the inside secrets.”
Speights played with the Warriors for three seasons — winning a championship in 2015 — before he joined the Clippers last summer.
So the 6-10 forward knows something about the difference between the Clippers and Warriors.
“They know how we feel about them. It’s not that we dislike them. We just want to beat them,” Rivers said. “It’s really a respect factor to them, just because they’re a really good team.”
The Clippers had all their key players in the first encounter this season between the two teams at Staples Center in December, but they lost by 17 points. It wasn’t even close after late in the first quarter, even with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin playing.
Paul is recovering from surgery on his left thumb and won’t play this time and Golden State AllStar guard Stephen Curry (left quad soreness) has been listed as questionable for the game.
“We need to beat them at some point,” guard J.J. Redick said. “For us, we realized our margin for error is small right know against anybody. Against them, it’s even smaller. It’s minuscule.”
There was a stretch in which the Clippers couldn’t beat Cleveland, losing four consecutive games, until they broke through with a win over the Cavaliers in December.
After that win in Cleveland, Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said his team needed to beat the Cavaliers for their own psyche.
For their own mental state, Rivers agreed Friday, the same thing applies to beating the Warriors, who have the best record (39-7) in the league and are considered the title favorites.