Warriors beat Clippers in foul-plagued opener
L.A. loses Griffin late
WARRIORS 109, CLIPPERS 105
LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors stumbled out of the gate, missing their first eight shots, falling behind by 11 points and forcing coach Mark Jackson to call two timeouts.
But Jackson steadied his young team against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Klay Thompson scored 22 points, spiking the ball as time expired, and Golden State beat Los Angeles 109-105 after getting Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in foul trouble in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday.
“A big way to start the series,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “We’ve been resilient all year. We’re not going to quit.”
David Lee had 20 points despite foul trouble and Curry scored 14 for the Warriors, who rallied in the third when Griffin and Paul were on the bench.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Jackson said. “We just had a tremendous will and competitive spirit.”
Game 2 is Monday night at Staples Center.
“The pressure is all on them,” Thompson said. “They can’t afford to go down 0-2 and go on the road. It’s tough to come back down 0-2.”
Paul led the Clippers with 28 points, and J.J. Redick added 22 in 30 minutes. Griffin finished with 16 points, fouling out with 48 seconds left and the score tied at 105. DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Warriors had an 11-point lead early in the fourth, helped by back-toback dunks by Jermaine O’Neal and Thompson’s turnaround fadeaway jumper. Then they withstood Paul’s error-filled bid to bring his team back.
“We made mistakes,” Griffin said. “Some of us, myself included, maybe wanted it too much and came in with an expectation. We just need to relax.”
Foul trouble plagued both teams, but losing Griffin and Paul for stretches cost the Clippers at both ends. Besides Lee, Andre Iguodala fouled out with 3:04 left.
“I kept putting myself in a hole,” Griffin said. “I got to do a better job.”
Paul returned early in the fourth with the Clippers down by double digits.
With L. A. trailing 108105, Paul was fouled and missed both free throws. His fifth foul put Dray- mond Green on the line and he missed both. Nick Collison got possession but turned the ball over when he stepped out of bounds.
“There were a lot of times where we lost our trust in each other,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We made too many mistakes to win.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Jeff Teague scored a playoff careerhigh 28 points and Paul Millsap added 25 as eighthseeded Atlanta rolled past top-seeded Indiana 101-93 on Saturday night, taking a 1- 0 lead in the best-ofseven series.
“I just wanted to win,” Teague, an Indianapolis native, said.
The Hawks ended an eight- game road losing streak in the playoffs, which dated to May 2011. Game 2 is Tuesday in Indianapolis.
“I think getting off to such a good start against such a good team is important,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “It’s really not something we talked about. They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason.”
Indiana endured a dismal third quarter. Paul George finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pacers.
Atlanta opened the third quarter on an 8- 0 run, breaking a 50-50 tie, then pulled away when Teague scored nine points in a 14-0 run that made it 74-58 with 4:08 left in the quarter. Indiana couldn’t get closer than eight the rest of the way.
“It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating, but it’s a long series,” George said. “It’s just one game and that’s the way we have to look at it.”
Indiana played fast and energetic in the first half, playing more like the team that had been so good over the first half of the season. Then in the second half, the Pacers reverted to their recent script of being unable to make shots and get stops when they needed them most. The Pacers were just 5- of-19 from the field in the third quarter and were 15-of-41 in the second half.
Atlanta took advantage of those struggles, becoming the first team to beat the Pacers on their home court twice this season. It was the first time the Hawks have won a postseason road game since the first game of the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals at Chicago.
The key was Teague, who repeatedly blew through open lanes because the Pacers’ defense was spread out by the Hawks’ 3-point shooters.
Teague was 9-of-19 from the field with five assists and three rebounds. Millsap had eight rebounds.
With 30 3-point attempts, the Hawks set their franchise playoff record, and the 11 3-pointers they made tied for the second-highest playoff total in franchise history. Both records were set in a 26-point loss to Orlando on May 10, 1996, when Atlanta went 12-of-27 from beyond the arc.
They didn’t have any trouble pulling out a win with those totals Saturday.
An Indiana turnover in the closing seconds of the first half allowed Atlanta to tie it at 50 on a buzzerbeating putback, and it was all Atlanta after that.
The Hawks quickly jumped to a 58-50 lead early in the third, and when the Pacers rallied to get within 60-58, Teague and Millsap took over.
Millsap opened the decisive run with two free throws. Teague followed with a driving layup, his only 3-pointer of the game, another layup and two free throws. And when Millsap closed the run with a three-point play, the Pacers trailed 74-58.
They didn’t get within single digits again until Lance Stephenson’s 3-pointer with 33.6 seconds left made it 99-91. But Atlanta closed it out at the free-throw line.