LOS ANGELES — A day earlier, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue focused practice on shoring up his team’s transition defense. With Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors coming to Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, Lue wasn’t taking any chances on slipping up against one of the quickest teams in the league.

“With this team, we got to get back in transition. We got to take care of the basketball, we can’t relax on defense with Klay (Thompson) and Steph in their movement,” Lue said. “Then we got to take care of the basketball offensively.

“If we do those three things, I think that we’ll be in great shape.”

By the end of a sometimes tempestuous and 3-point free-for-all game, Lue was able to check off those boxes and the Clippers came away with a 134-126 victory over the Warriors despite a 50-point night from Curry.

None of it was easy, though. The Clippers (37-33) withstood several challenges from the Warriors, who were without four key players – Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II, Ryan Rollins and Andre Iguodala – and playing on the road, where they have been dismal this season.

Then Kawhi Leonard (30 points) and Curry got into a mini 3-point shooting contest in the fourth quarter that led to the Warriors trimming a 12-point deficit to seven (118-111) with 5:33 left.

The Clippers, however, didn’t let the Warriors’ 3-point reputation get to them, securing, for now, fifth place in the tightly packed, ever-shifting Western Conference standings. The Clippers and Warriors (36-34) came into the game tied for fifth with identical records.

The teams combined for 33 shots from behind the arc, with the Clippers going 16 for 34, while the Warriors were 17 for 36.

Leonard scored nine of his 30 points on long-range shots – and had eight rebounds and five assists. But he was …read more

Source:: Los Angeles Daily News