Clippers at Warriors
The Los Angeles Clippers ousted Golden State from the playoffs last spring and the Warriors look to remain perfect this season when the rivals meet on Wednesday. Golden State’s 3-0 start is the best since the franchise won five straight games to open the 1994-95 season and forward David Lee (hamstring) is expected to make his season debut against Los Angeles. The Clippers improved to 3-1 when Blake Griffin scored 31 points and Chris Paul delivered a triple-double in Monday’s win over Utah.
Los Angeles lost to Sacramento on Sunday and had a 13-point halftime lead before the letting the Jazz back in the game, which irritated Paul. “We have to get that killer mentality and we have to put teams away,” Paul told reporters. “Teams are way too good in his league, especially now, and they aren’t going to give up.” The Warriors routed the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers to start the campaign and then delivered an impressive road win in Portland on Sunday.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (3-1): Forward Glen Davis (groin) is expected back for Los Angeles but he won’t do much to fix the club’s mediocre outside shooting. The Clippers are shooting just 32.5 percent from 3-point range and have taken the second-most attempts per game (29.3). “It’s weird how the season goes,” guard Jamal Crawford told reporters. “You can never get too high or too low. There’s going to be a point in the season where we can’t miss and you’re going to get to that and you just have to ride the wave and stay grounded either way.”
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (3-0): Guard Klay Thompson, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week, averaged 29.7 points and shot 53.7 percent from the field in Golden State’s three wins. Thompson recently signed a four-year, 70-million deal to stay with the Warriors and seems intent on earning it all immediately as he had a career-best 41 points in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers and hit the go-ahead basket while scoring 29 points in the victory over Portland. “I knew he was good, but he’s gotten dramatically better this season,” first-year coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “Maybe a lot of other people saw it coming – that he was ready to emerge as maybe the best two-guard in the league, but what he’s shown in the first few games is pretty amazing.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Golden State has won five consecutive regular-season home games against the Clippers.
2. Warriors PG Stephen Curry is averaging 25.3 points but struggling from long range (27.3 percent from behind the arc).
3. Crawford (15,003) passed the 15,000-point mark with 19 points against Utah.