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Home again after a training camp trip to China, the Clippers reversed a preseason trend, looking sharp and energized. The Warriors maintained their own preseason trend, looking, well, not sharp and not energized.
The Clippers' starting five, which tonight included Lance Stephenson, jumped all over a Golden State unit with Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingston in place of Andrew Bogut and Stephen Curry to build an early lead the visitors never threatened to diminish.
Blake Griffin was in regular season form and maybe even better, scoring 18 of his 29 points in the first quarter and setting the tone for his team with high energy and precision passing. The team's controlled aggressiveness manifested itself in a number of forced turnovers and successful forays to the rim.
Wait, did I say controlled? How about mostly controlled? Chris Paul, his usual brilliant but prickly self, was ejected in the third quarter of this chippier-than-your-average preseason game.
Stay tuned for the full recap, coming shortly...