SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors led the Los Angeles Clippers most of Wednesday’s game, but blew a 15-point lead late for a 130-125 Valentine’s Day loss.
The Clippers outscored the Warriors 36-19 after an on-court kerfuffle involving Mason Plumlee and Brandin Podziemski. Plumlee committed a hard foul, hitting Brandin Podziemski’s arms while trying to get the ball out of his hands, later deemed a Flagrant 1. Jonathan Kuminga was assessed a technical foul for shoving Plumlee in defense after the hard foul. Clippers head coach Ty Lue was ejected for receiving his second technical foul of the game during the ensuing scrum.
That wasn’t the only on-court drama in the game. Clippers center Ivaca Zubac elbowed Draymond Green in the head as both fought for a rebound mid-way through the third quarter. Green writhed in pain on the ground for a handful of possessions until a stoppage, then left for the locker room with trainers. Green was checked for a concussion and cleared to returned to the bench a few minutes later.
The Warriors’ latest late-game collapse negated a hot shooting night for Steph Curry. He shot 15-for-31 from the field and 9-of-19 from three and is now the only player in NBA history to hit at least seven 3-pointers in four consecutive games. He finished with 41 points.
Podziemski scored 26 shooting 9-of-12 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from 3.
Paul George fouled out with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the game very much up for grabs.
The Warriors close the season’s first half against the Utah Jazz on Thursday, the makeup game for the one postponed last month in the wake of Dejan Milojevic’s death.