Warriors Down L.A.

The Los Angeles Clippers jumped out to an early lead at Oracle Arena, and it was still looking good when Paul Pierce knocked down a three to make it just a two-point game at halftime. But in the second half, the Clips couldn’t keep pace with the Golden State Warriors.

The Clips led by seven in the first quarter and trailed by just two points at the break after The Truth’s trey. But behind a combined 44 second-half points from Steph Curry and Clay Thompson, the defending NBA champions won their 51st consecutive game on the road, 114-98.

“I just try to tell them we’ve got to be mentally focused each and every day,” Paul said. “We’ve got to focus on trying to play our best basketball right now. We can’t have these types of mental lapses on the road when we’ve been a very good road team this whole season.”

The defeat marks a bit of a slump for the Clips, who are still without star power forward Blake Griffin. With Griffin sidelined since Christmas, the Clippers have played their way into a solid hold on the fourth seed in the Western Conference. But they’ve dropped four of their last five, all on the road against West foes. So Paul knows that the Clippers must sharpen up with now just a dozen games remaining in the regular season.

“It’s that time of the year, you’ve got to be mentally tough,” Pierce said. “You’ve got to be able to finish out the season on a strong note. Hopefully we don’t look past these 12 games and whatnot, try to secure the best seed we can and get a good rhythm going into the playoffs.”

L.A. looked strong early against Golden State. Jeff Green and Jamal Crawford came off the bench for nine and seven points, respectively. Paul pulled down three of the team’s 17 first-quarter rebounds, as the Clips held a 28-23 lead after one.

The scales quickly tipped in the Warriors’ favor in the second. A Harrison Barnes trey gave them a two-point lead at the 8:57 mark. A Curry three pushed the Warrior lead to five with two minutes left in the half, but The Truth’s corner triple made it just a one-possession game at the break.

But the Warriors quickly separated themselves in the second half, starting with a 10-1 run to make it an 11-point gap. The Clips brought it back down to eight, but another short sequence later, Los Angeles led by 14.

From then on, the Warriors kept the Clippers at a safe distance. The closest L.A. came was within seven points, as Paul was rested for the final quarter. That is one factor that could change drastically once the playoffs begin.

While Paul isn’t the high-volume scorer he once was, now at age 38, he still possesses that killer instinct, particularly during the NBA’s second season. When Paul played for the Washington Wizards last year, he became their go-to guy during the playoffs. He had a knack for making big plays feel even bigger with his fearlessness. Most famously, he called “game” on a buzzer-beating three to take down the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“Great players just find another notch and another button they can push when they get to that time of year,” Paul said. “They know that time of the year you lose four games, you go home. You lose four games in the regular season, you still play. So it’s definitely a different mindset.”