Clippers at Warriors
Their issues with owner Donald Sterling mostly in the rearview mirror, the Los Angeles Clippers can now get to the business of closing out the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers can clinch the first-round best-of-seven series when they visit the Warriors for Game 6 on Thursday. The NBA fined Los Angeles owner Donald Sterling $2.5 million and banned him for life before Game 5 on Tuesday and the Clippers responded with a strong performance to take control of the series.
The issue of Sterling selling the team still needs to be resolved but for now any talk of boycotting games or protesting has been shut down thanks to commissioner Adam Silver’s unprecedented punishments. DeAndre Jordan, who struggled in Game 4 after Sterling’s racist comments were made public, was a different player after Silver’s actions in Game 5 and set the pace with 25 points and 18 rebounds in the 113-103 triumph. Golden State’s role in the festivities was largely discounted due to the bigger story hovering over the contest but the Warriors are by no means out of the series and will try to recapture the formula that worked so well in wins in Games 1 and 4.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS: Jordan came out on fire in the first quarter of Game 5 and fed off the emotion of the crowd with a series of powerful dunks. “I thought (Jordan) and a bunch of them, they just got caught up in it up in Golden State,” coach Doc Rivers told reporter of the difference between Games 4 and 5. “I mean they had raw emotions going into that game, and we just didn’t handle it very well. … (Jordan) texted me after we got back to LA and said, ‘that wasn’t me, and I will be back.’” Jordan blocked five shots in each of the first three games and swatted away four more in Game 5 while going 8-of-10 from the field and stepping to the line to hit 9-of-17 after the Warriors started to foul him in the fourth quarter.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Golden State All-Star Stephen Curry often gets the credit when the team plays well but he absorbed some of the blame for Game 5 as well after committing eight of the team’s 14 turnovers. “(Curry) knows he’s got to be better,” coach Mark Jackson told reporters. “(Tuesday) he turned the ball over obviously a little too much. They did a better job of being active in their pick-and-roll defense. … at times he tried to thread the needle a bit too much.” Curry only got off 10 field-goal attempts in Game 5 and finished with 17 points after going off for 33 points in the 118-97 Game 4 triumph.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Warriors F Andre Iguodala is averaging 20 points in the last two games after putting up 7.7 in the first three contests.
2. Los Angeles G Jamal Crawford, who will reportedly be named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 22.5 points in the last two games.
3. Golden State F Draymond Green made his second straight start on Tuesday and recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.