Clippers aim to continue upward trend against Warriors
Two teams trending upward despite a recent shellacking go head-to-head Monday night when the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Warriors have won six of eight, and the Clippers six of seven, as both continue their uphill climb toward the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns at the top of the Pacific Division.
Golden State rebounded from a 37-point pounding at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday and a second-quarter ejection of Draymond Green vs. Utah to brush aside the Jazz 123-114 on Saturday night.
The trip to Los Angeles will send the Warriors to their only road game in a stretch of 10 out of 11 at home. The team hasn't won more than three in a row all season, but coach Steve Kerr told the media after Saturday's win that the "spirit's good" and credited someone extensively who never left the bench against the Jazz.
"Buddy Hield didn't play tonight, but his energy on the bench, his just communication with players, staying engaged. Buddy was incredible," Kerr said after the veteran's fourth healthy scratch in the team's last eight games following playing in 199 in a row.
"Draymond said it a few weeks ago, Buddy is like one of his top five teammates of all time. He's one of my favorite players I've ever coached. For this reason: he's found himself out of the rotation right now and he stays upbeat, stays positive, telling jokes on the bench, keeping guys loose. Buddy is an incredible human being.
"This is what it takes to be a really good team is to have everybody bought in, and especially the guys like Buddy who are out of the loop still being part of it and engaged."
It has also helped that Stephen Curry has scored at least 23 points in nine of his 10 games since returning from a bruised quad. He's made 50 of 122 3-pointers (41%) over that stretch.
Curry made just two of eight from deep and totaled 19 points when the Warriors and Clippers met in San Francisco in October. Jimmy Butler III did the heaviest lifting that night for Golden State, scoring 21 points in a 98-79 win.
The loss to the Warriors came during a 6-21 start that had some analysts projecting the Clippers to be sellers at the trade deadline. However, led by Kawhi Leonard, the club responded with a six-game winning streak before Saturday's 146-115 home loss to the Boston Celtics.
Leonard averaged 39.0 points and James Harden 25.5 during the recent six-game turnaround, but veteran Kris Dunn credited a look at the calendar and corresponding attitude adjustment for much of the success.
"Everybody's urgency just went up as a group," he told The Athletic last week. "Understanding that it's starting to get ... not late into the season, but we're getting into the thick of the season, and we want to just turn things around."
Still six games behind even the Warriors in the standings, Leonard isn't talking playoffs quite yet.
"Just focus on the work, in the season and coming in every game," he insisted. "Like I've been saying: compete. We're still trying to get better, individually and as a unit. And we might not be contenders, but we just got to keep fighting."