The LA Clippers had been beating the Golden State Warriors for almost two years. Before Tuesday night, the Warriors had not won a game against the Clippers since late November 2023. The Clippers won the next seven games between these two teams, including a big overtime win in April that got them into the playoffs.
Tuesday night was completely different. The Warriors beat the Clippers 98-79 in a game where almost nothing went right for LA. The Clippers only scored 79 points, which is their worst performance in nearly four years. They had not scored this few points since December 2020, when they lost badly in their home opener that season.
According to The Athletic, the Clippers offense did not flow at all during the game. They only got 10 assists as a team, which is the lowest number they have had in 16 years. They also turned the ball over 16 times. Kawhi Leonard said after the game that the offense was too stagnant. He explained that too many times, the team would come down the court and take a shot without passing the ball around enough. “Can’t do that against a team like this,” Leonard said.
Nobody Could Hit Shots And The Age Problem Became Impossible To Ignore
The main problem was that most players could not make their shots. James Harden scored 20 points, but he got all of those in the first half. Leonard finished with 18 points and Ivica Zubac had 14. Everyone else on the roster shot terribly. The other players made only about 26 percent of their shots and just 17 percent from three-point range.
Coach Tyronn Lue said the shooting was the biggest reason they lost. “I thought holding this team to 98 points is really good,” Lue explained. “But when you shoot 6-of-33 from 3, you’re not going to win many games.” The team was also playing without Bradley Beal, who missed his second game in a row because of back pain. Lue said the team really needs Beal because he can shoot, handle the ball, and help run the offense.
The Clippers are also dealing with being one of the oldest and slowest teams in the league. The Warriors ran past them all night. Golden State got 11 fast break points just in the third quarter. One play showed the problem clearly when 22-year-old Brandin Podziemski ran down 40-year-old Chris Paul from behind and blocked what looked like an easy basket. The team had clear problems with their speed and how they ran their plays.
Right now, the Clippers are near the bottom of the league when it comes to fast break scoring and defense. Only the Houston Rockets play at a slower speed than LA. Leonard admitted the team has to run their offense faster and protect the ball better. While video game fans might try building faster rosters in NBA 2K24 to avoid these problems, the real Clippers cannot change how old their players are. The Clippers and Warriors will play three more times this season.
They will meet in the final game of the season for the second year in a row. Tuesday night showed the Clippers have real problems to fix after they had beaten the Warriors so many times before. Getting the timing right on offense matters a lot in basketball, and the Clippers clearly lost that against Golden State.
Published: Oct 29, 2025 06:15 pm