SAN FRANCISCO – A tale of two halves in a game full of future Hall of Famers ended in a 98-79 Warriors win Tuesday night against the LA Clippers at Chase Center.
Over the final eight minutes of the first half, the Warriors were outscored 24-6. The Warriors scored a lowly 13 points in the second quarter and looked like fatigue had caught up to them on the second night of a back-to-back. Then the second half began and a whole new Warriors team showed up.
The Warriors outscored the Clippers by 18 points in the third quarter and four points in the fourth. In total, they outscored them 52-30 in the second half for a 22-point advantage, flipping a three-point halftime deficit into a 19-point win.
Jimmy Butler scored an incredibly efficient game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and was 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Butler also had five rebounds and five assists. Steph Curry was just 2 of 8 from three, but scored 19 points while going 5 of 7 on 2-pointers attacking the rim and added a game-high eight assists.
Before their first matchup of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Warriors had lost their previous seven games against the Clippers. Tuesday night marked their first win against them since Nov. 30, 2023.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ second straight win, improving to 4-1 on the season.
QP3
Al Horford was out of his street clothes for the second night of a back-to-back but remained on the bench to begin the game. Steve Kerr instead stuck with the same starting five he used in the third game of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, going with second-year pro Quinten Post at center. If Post is on the court, the 7-foot stretch five is going to have to knock down shots from deep.
That hadn’t been the case through the Warriors’ first four games when Post only made one of his five 3-point attempts. He then missed his first three Tuesday night, too. Halfway through the first quarter, Post found his stroke and drained back-to-back threes. He was even talking smack to Clippers center Ivica Zubac shortly after on the other side.
Post in the first quarter alone was a plus-13 with six points, three rebounds and one blocked shot. He was a plus-20 in the first half, a stark difference from Horford’s minus-23. To start the second half with the Warriors down by three, Post made his third three of the game from the top of the arc.
After a slow start to the season, Post was a game-high plus-34 with 12 points on 4 of 7 from three and grabbed eight rebounds. Horford, in 21 minutes off the bench, was a minus-12.
Third Quarter Dubs
Like old times, the Warriors have found their superpowers coming out of halftime for the third quarter. They outscored the Los Angeles Lakers by 10 in the third quarter, the Denver Nuggets by nine, the Portland Trail Blazers by one and the Memphis Grizzlies by 12. The Warriors, in their first four games of the season, averaged nearly 35 points in the third quarter and needed that same kind of firepower Tuesday night.
Led, of course, by Curry, they found it. Curry, in the first five minutes, scored seven points and dished three assists, making him responsible for all 14 Warriors points to give them the lead. Even when the Clippers made it close, the Warriors never wavered.
A three-point halftime deficit became a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter when the Warriors outscored the Clippers 32-14. The Warriors shot 57 percent from the field for the quarter, went 5 of 9 from three, swiped five steals and only had one turnover.
Butler scored 10 points in nine minutes, and Curry had nine in 19 fewer seconds. But six Warriors scored in the quarter as their focus went into hyperdrive.
Second-Half Harden Adjustment
Meanwhile, James Harden was held scoreless in the third quarter after scoring 20 points in the first half. Harden, at plus-10, was the only Clippers starter with a positive plus/minus in the first half. He was 6 of 12 from the field and only 1 of 5 on threes, but his head games led to a perfect 7 of 7 at the free throw line.
No more playing around. Instead of leaving Jonathan Kuminga or anybody else on an island, the Warriors trapped and doubled Harden whenever he had the ball in his hands during the third quarter. That allowed him to take just two shots, missing both. Harden didn’t shoot any free throws as the Warriors flipped the game, and he drew only one foul.
For the few minutes he played in the fourth quarter, the Warriors didn’t need to double Harden. Kerr’s adjustment worked wonders, the Warriors gave Harden fits in the third quarter and the Clippers were down by 20 points when his night ended with five and a half minutes remaining. Harden in the second half didn’t score a single point in a little under 12 minutes, going 0 of 3 with one rebound, one assist and two turnovers.
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