November 20, 2015, Queens, NY Hip-hop icon Kool Moe Dee penned and performed his most successful song, Wild, Wild West, back in the late 1980s. The NBA’s version of the Wild, Wild West is the Western Conference and is “actualized” when the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers get together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_AMPcFym0Q
The stars came out at the Staples Center like it was a Los Angeles Lakers game but instead it was the Clippers. Derek Jeter, Billy Crystal, Floyd Mayweather, and the person who got the most love, newly crowned women’s bantam weight champion of the UFC, Holly Holm were in attendance.
In a game that didn’t disappoint on any level, the Steph Curry-led Warriors went into the hostile confines of the Staples Center with a 12-0 record. He was matched up against imminent Hall of Fame point guard, Chris Paul. For Paul, Curry’s commercial teammate for State Farm, this was obviously personal. Both guards scored over 30 points (Paul had 36 and Curry 40) in spectacular fashion with three-point bombs and fanciful layups to boot.
However, this was a game that was about more than just the point guard match up. You have the Warriors, (the defending NBA champions and a team that hadn’t won a title in 40 years), with much to prove because to many, their championship run was devoid of having to beat the Clippers and San Antonio Spurs, the best teams in the Western Conference. In the Finals, the Warriors faced a depleted-by-injuries Cleveland Cavaliers who took them to a Game Six. So, the Warriors didn’t get a ton of respect.
The Clippers came out on fire and seemed determined to send a message to the Warriors who may have been shell shocked. But the Clippers were a bit too celebratory against a team with championship mettle.
(DeAndre Jordan trying to put the block on Steph Curry. If you want to pop your fingers, click on YouTube link to hear the 1970s cult classic jam, “Sneaking Up Behind You” by the Brecker Brothers.)
The Clippers had amassed a 23-point lead, but it never seemed that the Warriors were out of it. Klay Thompson gave the Warriors their first lead since 3-2, with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter to go up 113-112. The Clippers answered with a trey from Jamal Crawford, and the Warriors answered with a trey by, you guessed it, Steph Curry.
The Clippers ended up closing the game with a 22-5 run beating the Clippers for the second time this season, 124-117. They face the Chicago Bulls and then the Denver Nuggets. If the Clippers win those two games, they tie the Houston Rockets for the best start in NBA history at 15-0.
Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at @cliffordbenton.