The Los Angeles Clippers defied the odds this season to make the playoffs. After trading All-Star point guard Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets, and forward Blake Griffin to the Pistons, last season, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see the Clippers take a big step back. Those two moves were followed by center DeAndre Jordan signing with the Dallas Mavericks this past offseason as a free agent.
Instead of taking a step back, head coach Doc Rivers would roll up his sleeves, to lead the Clippers to a 48-win season – in the loaded Western Conference no less, qualifying for the postseason as the eighth seed. They were rewarded by being paired with the Golden State Warriors in their first-round series, which has proved so far to be quite entertaining.
Game 4 of the Western Conference first-round series between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors found the Clippers needing a win to avoid going down three games to one to the Warriors.
To avoid this situation, they desperately needed to keep Kevin Durant from going off offensively. Durant hadn’t performed up to his usual high standards, scoring 23 and 21 points in games one and two respectively. KD would go off for 38 points in game three, a Golden State victory which put them up in the series two games to one.
Game four would see Durant’s scoring dip from his game three output – he only scored 33 points… In tandem with guard Klay Thompson (who scored 32 points), Durant would help lead the Warriors to a victory in game four by a final score of 113-105, to take a commanding three games to one lead in the process.
Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday in Oracle Arena, with Golden State looking to win and advance.