Warriors Outmanned Against Clippers: Game Preview

The recurring story throughout the Warriors’ history has been injury, injury, injury. Right now, Bogut is still getting back into things, and is doing so meticulously. He will not play tonight against the Clippers, although the Warriors will need him. Stephen Curry looks well and mobile out there, as his stroke is back and he’s playing at a great pace. He lead the Warriors last night, who unfortunately came up short of a win.

The Warriors had finally found a great bench unit, with a great PG, SG, SF, PF, and C. Now, they’re down a SF, as Brandon Rush, the crowd pleaser and energizer has gone down with a seemingly serious injury caused by Zach Randolph. At least he apologized! Rush said that he was feeling better in terms of pain before the night was over, but still struggled to walk properly. An MRI was performed on him, and there’ll be more news later. Regardless of how serious the injury is, Rush will need to be replaced. To put it in perspective, when Rush played 30+ MPG, the Warriors were 47-3. Think that’s a coincidence?

With Rush out, Klay Thompson, Richard Jefferson, and Harrison Barnes will see a lot more minutes come in. As Klay Thompson is already playing at a high level, either Richard Jefferson or Harrison Barnes will have to snap out of their ‘slumps’ and realize that they need to win some games.

For Richard Jefferson, all he has to do is envision that he’s a Net again, and he’s leading his team to the second round with an astonishing game winner against the Raptors. He needs to be the superstar that he used to be, or he will see his minutes continually fading.

For Barnes, he is an athletic rookie who knows that he could make the difference. Coming into the NBA season, he was shooting the three ball at 50% on the NBA line, which is much further than the college line. He hasn’t quite gotten into his groove yet, but when he realizes that he can defend and beat some of the better SF’s in the game, his defender’s are going to have a tough time getting beat to the basket. It will be a long night.

I know things may seem bleak as the Warriors are down 2 guys tonight, but somehow, someway, the Warriors know they need to play well. For 3 consecutive seasons, the Warriors have pulled off a 2-2 split with the Clippers. No matter the odds, the Warriors have a good shot at this game.

Matchup to Watch: Stephen Curry/Jarrett Jack vs Chris Paul

Player to Watch: David Lee, Blake Griffin

Leading Scorer Prediction: Jamal Crawford 25 points, 4 Assists

Winner: Clippers, by 7+