NBA on Sling: Warriors Take Their Tour of Destruction to Boston, Clippers Look to Bounce Back Against Kings
Golden State Warriors (9-2) vs Boston Celtics (6-5)
8pm ET on ESPN
They were celebrating their hometown hero Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, but Kevin Durant made it clear that he “don’t give a damn about no Drake Night” by putting up a 30-9-6 in helping the Warriors to a 127-121 victory. Steph Curry led all scorers with 35, marking the first time this season that he and KD scored 30 on the same night – you can be sure it will happen again. The Warriors are so stacked with talent that they overcame Klay Thompson and Draymond Green combining to make 9 of 28 from the floor, and as well sending the Raptors to the line 40 times. Golden State has now won 5 in a row, by an average of 14.8 ppg.
It’s been a rocky start to what was expected to be a great season for the Boston Celtics, as they lost 4 of their first 7 games, and saw prize free agent acquisition Al Horford get knocked out of action by a concussion suffered during practice following the third game of the year. But on Wednesday they won for the third time in their last 4 games, besting the Dallas Mavericks 90-83, overcoming their 19 turnovers by out-rebounding the Mavs 53-32. Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 30 points, albeit on 7-of-18 shooting, while Avery Bradley posted his sixth double-double, going 18-13. Horford is taking it day-to-day, so he may suit up tonight, or he may not, and the same goes for starting forward Jae Crowder, who’s missed the last 6 games with a sprained ankle. If these guys ever get healthy, they could do some damage.
Los Angeles Clippers (10-2) vs Sacramento Kings (tk)
10:30pm ET on ESPN
The Clippers fell Wednesday for just the second time this season, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 111-107. Trailing by 2 with 62 seconds to play, the Grizz cut the lead in half with a James Ennis free throw, before Marc Gasol drained a 3-pointer to put them up 109-107 with :14 to play, and then Mike Conley put things out of reach with a pair of free throws. Chris Paul had an off night at the point for the Clips, scoring just 9 on 3-of-11 shooting, with only 6 assists. It was a bad night for a potentially great team, with a three-headed monster of Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan that’s among the best in the league, they have the best record in the league, and their point differential of 14.9 ppg is still 5 points better than anyone else in the NBA.
Woe is Boogie Cousins, who’s averaging 26.6 ppg and 9.3 rpg for a hapless Kings team that appears destined to miss the playoffs for the 11th year in a row. Their latest loss was an utterly predictable 110-105 defeat at the hands of the Spurs, despite Cousins going 26-17-6. The final score was deceptively close, as the Spurs were up 107-89 with 2:50 to play, only to allow the Kings to rip of 13 straight points to close the gap to 107-102 with 18 second left. Rudy Gay (21.3 ppg) is the only other King averaging more than 12 points per game,
Watch the Warriors vs Celtics at 8pm ET, followed by the Clips vs Kings at 10:30pm ET Friday on ESPN by subscribing to Sling Orange
All stats courtesy ESPN and Basketball Reference.