Clippers at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors ended up with four All-Stars when the Western Conference reserves were announced on Thursday and will try to become the first team to reach 40 wins when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday. The Clippers, who will send center DeAndre Jordan to his first All-Star game, are trying to keep pace until Chris Paul returns.
Klay Thompson and Draymond Green joined starters Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant on the All-Star team, and the four stars just got finished guiding Golden State to a 3-1 mark on a four-game road trip. "Physical games, a lot of grabbing and holding, trying to beat us up on the offensive boards, and we have to understand that," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters of the final two games of the trip. "We're a skill team, and teams are going to try to take that away from us by being physical, so it's been good for us the last couple games to feel that." The Clippers tend to get physical with Golden State when the Pacific Division rivals meet, and this time Blake Griffin will be around to help Jordan muscle people on the interior. Griffin (knee) returned from an 18-game absence on Tuesday and delivered a double-double in 29 minutes, but Los Angeles still dropped a 121-110 decision at Philadelphia.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (30-17): Los Angeles is 1-3 since Paul went down with a torn ligament in his thumb, with the three losses coming against sub-.500 foes Minnesota, Denver and Philadelphia. Griffin is still working his way back into game shape and went 3-of-11 from the field while committing six of the team's 19 turnovers at the 76ers. "Felt all right other than turnovers and missing some easy ones," Griffin told reporters. "I was sloppy, rusty. I felt like I had some really stupid turnovers. I probably would’ve liked to attack more, especially late in the shot clock. A couple times I settled for jumpers."
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (39-7): Golden State is not only the highest-scoring team in the league (117.5) but also leads the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (43.2 percent) and turned things up on both ends while outscoring Charlotte 38-23 in the fourth quarter during Wednesday's 113-103 triumph. The Warriors went to the free-throw line 15 times in the fourth quarter alone and finished the game 24-of-27 from the stripe. "That was huge," Green told reporters of the free throws. "Because it’s that type of game. They make a run and then all of a sudden we get to the free-throw line and slow them down. It helps us set our defense and when we set our defense, we’re tough to score on."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Clippers PG Austin Rivers is averaging 20.8 points in four games since Paul went down - up from his season average of 11.9.
2. Durant is 5-of-22 from 3-point range over the last four games.
3. Golden State took the last seven in the series, including a 115-98 triumph at Los Angeles on Dec. 7.