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Golden State Warriors (11-3) 116 - 121 Los Angeles Clippers (8-5)

First published November 13th 2018

Gortat is a center piece for the offense in the starting unit. Getting a pass off from the top of the key or setting a pick, everything revolves around him and his hard screens. This was already pretty clear when i saw the game against the Bucks. They usually looked to exploit Cook, who naturally has the hardest time getting around the big man.
Harrell giving Klay NOTHING. Great hustle and grit&grind attitude kind of player. If in the restricted area, and that goes for both sides of the floor, he is in full control. Strong finishing, elite rebounding position and a great defensive game. At this stage, Lou was struggling a lot to deal with the size mismatch and had a couple of very poor 30ft attempts.
Halftime arrives with the Clippers up but it seemed more spawned by the Dubs having a hard time scoring, giving more opportunities and more transition plays for LA. They also went a lot more to the line and made tough shots in the paint.
Wasn't really sure what to make of the bulk of the third quarter. Clippers were playing very good defense, KD's ISO attempts were off and the game looked choppy. One thing that seemed noticeable was how the Dubs, especially KD, were looking to force their way inside in a lot of plays, pretty much playing to the strengths of the oppositions defense.
A big sequence comes close to the end of the third. Harrell with great finishes in back-to-back plays, one of them a beautiful dish by Lou, where KD gets foul nº5. Lou and Harrell weren't done. What a killer PnR duo to get off the bench.
While the offensive owes continued and the Clippers were standing out with their defensive effort, the Warriors really locked in for the final quarter. This is amazing 1v1 defense. It was the beginning of an effort to slowly eat away at the lead and with a 13-3 run, we had a 3 point game with 2 minutes to go. For a brief moment, you could feel the defense fueling the team's confidence.
The final play of regulation was an ISO for a struggling Lou Williams. The great Andre Iguodola did a fantastic job staying close and contesting. Why that was followed up with Draymond running into trafic instead of passing to KD we will never know...
Getting to overtime, the foul that ejected Durant was soft as fuck. It's a real sour taste when you are so invested in a close game. Klay tried his absolute best to carry this team on his shoulders to the finish line. McKinnie was given a place to hide on defense using the corner away from the action but he's directly involved in two turnovers... and there was this. Klay does push him off balance, it's because he was late switching to a driving Williams. After one disastrous play after another Kerr sat him back down on the bench.
And then it ended after Looney can't finish over Montrezl "game MVP" Harrell and Lou gets him to jump on the other side to draw some dagger free throws with 13 seconds to go. Catastrophic OT for two role players... A note for Beverly fighting to stop the ball reaching Klay.
A fantastic Clippers defensive performance, Lou carried it when it matters, Harrell was truly outstanding (i'll talk about Shai in a sec). If i was wondering how the offense looked without Curry, it's still clear how much this teams dynamic offense depends on his presence. Pretty good game for the casual viewer.
Other notes:
I thought Andre had a nice showing actually. Having Livingston back gives the second quarter unit so much size... Klay, Green, Shaun and Andre are all switching and can bother anyone.
Fuck sloppy fastbreaks. Draymond pushes too hard and since there's almost no shooters on the court the guys that run usually clog up the paint. Warriors in the Kerr era: 254-47 with Curry, 22-19 without.
Final play was what it was but I do genuinely like watching Looney play D (Harrell was totally going to get that rebound from KD had the shot missed). Mike Scott makes the shot but his read of the play is perfect throughout and it's a good contest. He was a part of that 4th quarter unit that really locked down and brought it back.
Shai was making tough shots, using his size and looking more confident in his scoring than the last time i saw him (against the Bucks), which i like a lot. He did have a bit of trouble getting through the screens but his defensive instincts are great and he's really advanced for a rookie. In fact, very little about him says "i only played a dozen NBA games". To everyone who talked about him going too late on the draft for his talent, you were right.

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