(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Buzzer Reaction
 Los Angeles Clippers |
 Golden State Warriors |
MVP: Blake Griffin scored a playoff career-high 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, dominating any and every defender in his way. Thus far, the Warriors have no answer for him. He’s averaging more than one point per minute (51 points, 49 minutes) in the series.
LVP: Forty-eight hours after playing arguably the best playoff game of his life, Klay Thompson struggled with foul trouble and laid a dud. While he isn’t as important as Steph Curry is offensively, Thompson needs to be more of a factor.
That was … a beating: The Clippers were out for blood from the opening tip and they never let their foot off the gas. They were locked in defensively and made a point to push the pace at every turn. When Hedo Turkoglu drops 13 points on you, you know it’s not your night.
– Jovan Buha
Tweet(s) Of The Game
Am I the only one who, every time Draymond Green scores, hears Steven Tyler screaming, “Dray-mon! Dray-mah-on!” I am? OK, never mind.
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) April 21, 2014
Next home game for the Clippers, they can cover up the Lakers’ banners with Tyronn Lue’s tie.
— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) April 21, 2014
Blake has sprouted wings and is flirting with God Mode right now. This is Altered Beast stuff.
— Matt Moore (@HPBasketball) April 21, 2014
The Depth Charge
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Hollins, C | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Hedo Turkoglu, PF | 14 | 5-7 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 13 |
| Big Baby, PF | 12 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| Total | 31 | 7-11 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 17 |
(Photo via NBA.com/Stats)
ClipperBlog Live’s Best Moment
After a big blowout to even the series at a game a piece, the entire show gets derailed.
Check Your Messages
Turnover- and Free-Throw Disparity Lead to Blowout
On a night when the Clippers scored 138 points, the Los Angeles defense deserves a heck of a lot of credit. It forced 26 Golden State turnovers that resulted in 27 Clipper points (the Clippers were +19 in points off turnovers Monday night). Clipper defenders routinely took charges and got their hands in passing lanes; that’s how David Lee, Andre Iguodala, Hilton Armstrong and Draymond Green committed four turnovers apiece. Yes, Stephen Curry scored 24 points, but he was frustrated throughout. Nothing came easy.
Foul shots were the other evident statistical advantage for the Clippers. The Warriors couldn’t stop Blake Griffin in any meaningful way, so what did they do? They fouled him, again and again. They also fouled DeAndre Jordan a good deal. As a team, the Clippers shot 91.4 percent from the charity stripe (32-of-35), with Jordan and Griffin converting 16-of-18. Even with Griffin’s notable improvements in this area, who would’ve expected 7-of-8 from Jordan?
So, in all, when you factor in the Clippers’ +18 advantage in points off turnovers and +10 in free throws made, you already essentially have a 30-point game.
- Aaron Fischman
Steady the Course
Routed. Dominated. Eviscerated. Annihilated. These will be the adjectives that’ll be used to describe the Clippers’ game two victory over the Warriors, but when the Warriors return back to Oracle, the Clippers-Warriors series will still be 1-1 and the score of the game start at 0-0.
While no team ever wants to be embarrassed with a 40-point loss in a playoff game, a Bogut-less Warriors still managed to steal a game from the Clippers. Although not picture perfect, the Warriors did what they had to do in these two games, and the Clippers more than exceeded expectations in how they were supposed to respond.
While the Clippers are still the favorites and have asserted themselves, let’s not forget what happened last postseason when the Clippers shined in their first two games against the Memphis Grizzlies, one of which included a 21-point victory. This series is far from over; there is still a lot of basketball to be played, and a lot more to learn about this team.
- Davis Vo
The Cream Rises
Perhaps Mark Jackson outcoached Doc Rivers in the first game. Maybe the Los Angeles Clippers should have made adjustments midgame and shored up the lack of defensive rotations on the backside. Trapping Stephen Curry became a death knell for paint defenders. Doubling Klay Thompson in the post was as bad an idea as it sounds written out. Then Doc Rivers went back to the proverbial drawing board and instead of formulating something entirely new, he merely reinforced the message sent out in Game 1. Stephen Curry would not beat them.
- Andy Liu
A Song of Ice-baths and Fire
What is the most important quality in a basketball king? Is it holiness? Mark Jackson has holiness, and he was a great player, and he is a good coach — and yet his team lost by 40. Is it mercy? The Warrior bench took mercy on the aged, slow, oft-injured Clipper bench bigs, and perhaps this had something to do with their 40 point loss. Is it might? Jermaine O’Neal has might, and yet the Warriors would have been better off without him. So if a basketball king can have holiness, mercy, and might, but still be so unimpressive, what is the most important quality of a basketball king? Think, young prince — yes, it is wisdom, for basketball wisdom can turn three immobile, short-armed, ground-bound forwards like Davis, Turkoglu, and Granger into a defensive titan, which is exactly what happened tonight. They swarmed ball handlers, got in passing lanes, and generally kept pace with the speedy back-court bench. Even with no rim protection, they kept Curry out of the paint in the first half, and by the time the second half started, it didn’t much matter what followed. Unlike the dead kings in Game of Thrones, of course, the Warriors get another chance.
- J. D. Evans
