Los Angeles Clippers aim to continue upward trend in NBA against Golden State Warriors

LOS ANGELES – Two National Basketball Association teams trending upwards despite recent heavy defeats go head-to-head on Jan 5 (Jan 6, Singapore time) when the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Warriors have won six of eight games while the Clippers have six wins in their last seven games, as both continue their uphill climb towards the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns at the top of the Pacific Division.

Golden State rebounded from a 37-point pounding by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan 2 and a second-quarter ejection of Draymond Green against the Utah Jazz to brush aside the Jazz 123-114 on Jan 3.

The trip to Los Angeles will send the Warriors to their only road game in an 11-game stretch.

They have not won more than three in a row all season, but coach Steve Kerr told the media after the win on Jan 3 that the “spirit’s good” and extensively credited someone who never left the bench against Utah.

“Buddy Hield didn’t play tonight, but his energy on the bench, his communication with players, staying engaged... Buddy was incredible,” Kerr said after the veteran’s fourth healthy scratch in their last eight games, before which he had played in 199 consecutive games.

“Draymond said it a few weeks ago, Buddy is like one of his top five teammates of all time. He’s one of my favourite 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, 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 leg injury. He also made 50 of 122 three-pointers (41 per cent) over that stretch.

Curry shot just two of eight from deep and totalled 19 points when the Warriors and Clippers met in San Francisco on Oct 28. Jimmy Butler 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, they responded with a six-game winning run before a 146-115 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Jan 3.

Leonard averaged 39.0 points and James Harden had an average of 25.5 points 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. “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.”

With the Clippers (12-22) still six games behind the eighth-placed Warriors in the Western Conference standings, Leonard is not talking about play-offs 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.” REUTERS