J.J. Redick/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers
Considering they were down by 17 points in the second quarter to the defending-champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, where just two nights earlier the Warriors demolished Memphis by 50 points, one would think the L.A. Clippers might look at their eventual four-point loss (112-108) as a moral victory of sorts.
Not necessarily.
“It would have been encouraging if we won,” shooting guard J.J. Redick said post-game. “We are not the ‘Bad News Bears.’ We are a team that has championship aspirations and for us to do that, we have to win.”
Center DeAndre Jordan was asked if he was encouraged by the showing. He shot that down.
“No, we lost,” he said. “It still goes in the loss column. We learned a few things. We know we can get a lot better.”
Then again, sixth-man Jamal Crawford could not deny that there was some good that came out of the team’s first setback of the season.
“The fact that we fought back is encouraging,” said Crawford, whose team next plays host to Houston on Saturday night at Staples Center. “To get down 17 in this environment against the champs and still have resolve and still have the lead in the fourth quarter shows a lot of character on this team.”
Even Jordan had to go along with that.
“Yeah, I think we can compete with not just them, but anyone,” he said. “Like I said before, they are a great team with a lot of great guys who have been together for a while and so have we. They have probably one of the best crowds in the league and I’m proud of the way we came in.
“We have a lot of work to do, but we will be all right.”
The Clippers went up by 10 points at 97-87 on a basket by Crawford with 7:56 to play. They were outscored 25-11 down the stretch.
The Clippers are now 4-1, the Warriors 5-0.
The Clippers play host to the Houston Rockets on Saturday night at Staples Center.