With neither of their 2022 All-Stars available Tuesday night against a fully healthy Clippers team, the odds were stacked against the Warriors. The competitive spirit was not.
For 32 minutes, that was enough to keep Golden State shoulder-to-shoulder with the team some predicted would sit atop the Western Conference.
The Warriors lost their grip late in the third quarter, giving up a 19-2 run that extended into the fourth quarter and sent them spiraling toward a 134-124 loss at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Seven Warriors scored in double figures, led by 28 points from Jordan Poole and 18 from Klay Thompson, but the team’s 54.2-percent shooting from the field, including 44.1 percent from deep, was not enough to offset the absences of Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins.
Here are three observations from the game that puts Golden State’s record at 29-29 at the All-Star break:
The fatal flurry
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors trailed by one, 90-89, after Paul George drained two free throws with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter. That’s when disaster struck.
The collapse came immediately after coach Steve Kerr replaced Draymond Green, Thompson and Poole with Jonathan Kuminga, Anthony Lamb, and Ty Jerome.
The Clippers spent the next six minutes outscoring the Warriors 20-4. While Golden State was committing four turnovers and missing nine of their 11 field goal attempts, LA was shooting 7-of-12 from the field and going turnover-free.
Down 110-93 with 10:44 remaining, the Warriors made a couple comeback attempts but got no closer than within 10 points.
The substitution pattern – sending three starters to the bench at once – surely left something to be desired. On the other hand, Thompson was on a strict minutes restriction and, therefore, being closely monitored.
Battle of the benches
For the Warriors: Moses Moody, Kuminga, Jerome and Lamb. For the Clippers: Norman Powell, Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee, Nicolas Batum, and Bones Hyland.
On paper, the bench matchup is a mismatch in favor of the more recognizable Clippers. On the court, though, the relatively nondescript Warriors nearly held their own, being outscored 49-42.
After falling behind by 10 (35-25) early in the second quarter, Golden State responded with an 18-7 run to take a 43-42 lead with 6:46 left in the half. Jerome and Kuminga accounted for 12 of the 18 points.
That was enough to get the Warriors back into the game, provided the impetus for a 65-61 halftime lead and kept them close until LA closed the third quarter with a 15-4 run.
It was not, however, enough to lift Golden State beyond a superior squad.
Klay’s latest milestone
After playing 36 minutes in a win over the Wizards on Monday, Thompson took the court on consecutive nights for the first time since April 2019.
This was something Klay wanted, and something the medical staff authorized. With this being the third game in seven days and the eight-day All-Star break looming, they all felt the timing was right.
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Thompson showed no ill-effect, playing 28 minutes, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
The Warriors have been very deliberate in guiding Thompson’s return to normalcy since returning 13 months ago after a 941-day absence. His appearance in this game represents another step forward.