Warriors Top Clippers on Christmas; Griffin Tossed

The Golden State Warriors (17-13) certainly had a merry Christmas on Wednesday after knocking off the Los Angeles Clippers (20-10) by a score of 105-103 at home, but the road team wasn’t in particularly high spirits, especially Blake Griffin, whose day ended early after he was ejected with nearly 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Tension between the teams was built much earlier, as Golden State forward Draymond Green was tossed for a flagrant 2 foul in the third quarter when he threw an elbow at Griffin. Griffin had some harsh words for Green after the play, which drew his first technical foul.

“You have some key matchups in the game where guys want to go at each other,” Green said, according to ESPN.com. “Any time you have that, you’re going to have a tough, hard-nosed game.”

Even after Griffin received his second technical and ejection following a scuffle with Andrew Bogut just minutes later, Warriors head coach Mark Jackson still chalked up the fighting to tough, physical play, rather than animosity towards the other squad.

“We like them. Merry Christmas,” Jackson said jokingly. “It’s just physical basketball, so we don’t get caught up in that. … It’s good, old-fashioned basketball between two teams that are playing for something.”

Meanwhile, the Clippers suspected the Warriors may have been goading Griffin into the ejection – which certainly impacted the outcome of the game – but at this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

“I don’t know if they were but it sure looked like it. I can’t accuse them of that but it looked like it. I’m not sure but that’s what it looked like,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s whatever you have to do to win, I guess.”

Before being thrown out, Griffin enjoyed a double-double performance with 20 points and 14 rebounds, but Chris Paul had to carry the extra scoring load for L.A. without him down the stretch, ending the night with 26 points and 11 assists. However, their efforts were not enough, as Stephen Curry led the Warriors late, scoring seven of his 15 points in the final three minutes. Klay Thompson and David Lee also put in a fair share of strong offensive work throughout for Golden State, each netting 23 points.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, things won’t get any easier today as they take on the 23-5 Portland Trail Blazers, who will be four-point favorites with the hungover Clipps in town.