A total of 29 fouls were called in the first half. Both Blake Griffin and Andre Iguodala ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter. The officials whistles were about as chirpy as the players in the first game of this rivalry series between two up-and-coming California teams.
In the end, the Golden State Warriors stole home-court from the higher seeded Los Angeles Clippers by the score of 109-105. They did so despite the fact that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined to shoot 13-of-36 from the field. They did so without Iggy for all but 20 minutes. They did so without big man Andrew Bogut to go up against Blake Griffin.
Speaking of Griffin, he wasn’t immune from the quick whistle. The All-Star power forward tallied a total of 16 points and three rebounds in just 19 minutes of play before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
And he wasn’t too happy about it, letting Warriors fans the world over know full well his feelings…
Clippers point guard Chris Paul outplayed his counterpart in Stephen Curry throughout the entire game, going for 29 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. He did miss two crucial free throws late in the game that enabled the Warriors to eventually take a two-possession lead in the final seconds on a Klay Thompson free throw. That’s highly uncharacteristic of the All-Star team captain.
In the absence of Bogut, both David Lee and Jermaine O’Neal stepped up big time in this one. They combined to shoot 14-of-22 from the field with 33 points and 16 boards. In reality, it’s rather obvious that Lee outplayed Griffin in this one.
A total of 82 regular season games and the Clippers have now lost home-court advantage against a Warriors team that won 51 games during the regular year. That’s not an ideal scenario for Doc Rivers’ squad. Before fans in Southern California flip out, one game isn’t that big of a deal. The Clippers are, however, pretty much in must-win mode for Game 2.
These two will be back at it in Los Angeles Monday night before taking the series up north for the third game in Oakland on Thursday evening.
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA Today