LA Clippers demolish Golden State Warriors in Chase Center opener
Friday 25 October 2019 08:02, UK
Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points and Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell combined for 40 points off the bench as the LA Clippers thrashed the Golden State Warriors 141-122 in the first regular-season NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Clippers scored the first 14 points in the regular-season history of the Warriors' new home and rode balanced scoring the rest of the way in a romp over the five-time defending Western Conference champions on Thursday night.
Williams had 22 points to lead five Clippers with 16 or more as the visitors built upon a season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Lakers with a blowout win in which they never trailed.
The Warriors' Stephen Curry was the game's leading scorer with 23 points.
Playing a regular-season game in San Francisco for the first time since 1971, the Warriors watched as Clippers center Ivica Zubac scored the first five points in Chase Center regular-season history and Patrick Patterson added a pair of three-pointers in the game-opening 14-0 flurry.
Warriors newcomer D'Angelo Russell ended his team's season-opening drought with a jumper 3:37 into the game, but Golden State never caught up, even though they did get within four on two occasions late in the first period.
The margin was 11 at half-time before the Clippers broke the game wide open when Landry Shamet (two) and Patterson (one) combined for a trio of three-pointers in a 9-2 burst at the start of the third period to open an 18-point gap.
The Warriors never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Kawhi Leonard finished with 21 points, Patterson 20, Harrell 18 and Zubac 16 for the Clippers, whose 2019 season came to an end at the hands of the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
Golden State went on to make the NBA Finals for a fifth consecutive season before falling to the Leonard-led Toronto Raptors.
Russell, making his Golden State debut after joining the club in a sign-and-trade in which the Warriors lost Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, backed Curry with 20 points.
Reserves Eric Paschall and Jacob Evans added 14 points apiece.
The Clippers shot 62.5 per cent overall and 56.3 per cent on three-pointers for the game.
