Steph Curry was ridiculous and the Clippers couldn't rally amid controversy. The series goes back to L.A. tied up.
The Los Angeles Clippers, playing Sunday afternoon despite the racist comments allegedly made by their owner, Donald Sterling, were dispatched handily by the Golden State Warriors, 118-97.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors' attack, scoring 33 points and adding seven assists, seven rebounds and one demoralizing block on J.J. Redick. The Warriors shot 15-32 collectively from three-point range and got 22 points from Andre Iguodala and 15 apiece from Klay Thompson, David Lee and Harrison Barnes.
The Clippers never truly threatened and, despite some now-typical superb play from Blake Griffin, never truly seemed engaged. Griffin, who scored more than 30 points in Games 2 and 3, led the Clippers with 21 points and six rebounds. Chris Paul had 16 points and 6 assists.
Curry and the Warriors started the game roughly as hot as a supernova. They scored 39 in the first quarter, went up 25-10 as Curry hit his first five three-pointers. Some in the arena said it was louder than last year's playoffs when the Clippers upset the Nuggets and nearly beat the Spurs.
Steph Curry was transcendent, hitting his first five three-pointers before Joey Crawford quite literally got in the way. Curry had 17 points in the quarter and the Warriors led by 15. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said he wouldn't let the firestorm surrounding Sterling's alleged comments be used as an excuse, but the Clippers were clearly flatter than they had been the previous three games, not helped by early foul trouble by DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul, neither of whom ever found a rhythm.
Who could really blame them? They met before the game to decide whether or not they would actually play, and decided instead to ditch their practice uniforms and turn their warmup shirts inside out to hide the Clippers logo. Any team dealing with this much adversity -- and this is what adversity really looks like, Pacers -- could be excused for not playing with their typicaly intensity during a 12:30 p.m. local time start in an insanely loud road building.
The Warriors, to their credit, simply played their game for the first time since Game 1. Curry was hitting ridiculous shots, the ball was moving on the interior and exterior, and some lineup tinkering by Mark Jackson (swapping Draymond Green into the starting 5 for Jermaine O'Neal) worked flawlessly.
Game 5 will undoubtedly be a circus in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. By then, we may know what the NBA's penalty, if any, for Donald Sterling will be or if the fans boycott out of protest. Clippers players must find a way to not worry about it before this team with championship aspirations gets bounced in the first round again.