World HOt toPPIX

The Golden State Warriors fell to the LA Clippers at home on Christmas Day. Chris Paul made his debut and was a clutch down the stretch.

Jed Jacobsohn - Getty ImagesMore photos »New Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson still has as many NBA coaching victories as you and I do. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

With about 7 minutes left in the 3rd the Warriors were down by only 1, yet they managed to get blown out by almost 20 points at home in the season opener on Christmas Day. How?

If you're going to be a bad team, then at least be entertaining- especially at home. This game was ugly. Maybe it's the lockout, maybe it's poor coaching (let's face it Vinny Del Negro and Mark Jackson are two of the worst coaches in the NBA), but this was not a pretty game. On offense the Warriors just stunk up the joint with 39% FG and 23.8% 3pt. Nellieball this ain't.

Chris Paul looked rather pedestrian in the first half and only shot 1 for 6. The second half was a different story however. It was like he flipped a switch and decided to become CP3. Down the stretch in the 4th Paul was just clutch. He was taking and making big shots off the dribble seemingly at ease. He wound up with 20 points, 9 dimes, and 2 picks. Surprisingly I don't recall him running the pick and roll with Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, but I'm sure that will change.

You don't see many nights when the Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry look this bad. They shot a combined 8 for 31 and had 9 turnovers. Curry looked especially out of sync. I wonder if it was a mistake to even play him tonight given his ankle issues.

Andris Biedrins had a fantastic outing. It has been quite some time since he brought so much energy on defense and finished so well. He was a force in the paint with 3 swats and was a perfect 5 for 5 around the bucket. Biedrins outplayed and out-hustled the Clips big man the Warriors wanted to desperately dump him for. Keep boosting that trade value Biedrins!

Coach Jackson tried a hack-a-DeAndre in the 3rd. I don't think it did much. If Del Negro was smart he would have countered with a hack-a-Biedrins, but again we're not exactly talking about the NBA coaching elite here.

If Caron Butler stays healthy, credit the Clippers with a great signing. I really liked his all-around game tonight with 11 points, 10 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

It really looked like Chauncey Billups was trying to give the Clips a reason to ship him out. He came out firing blanks and took a lot of ball-hog-type shots.

Brandon Rush looked very solid tonight. I can't believe he's listed as a shooting guard. He's a very big 6'6 225 pounds. Shoot, he could probably play center for Nellie! He could wind up being a very nice offseason acquisition.

The Warriors looked bad tonight, but it's only one game after a long NBA lockout for Coach Jackson's team. Even if they won big tonight I'd say the same thing. Let's take a wait and see approach...

The first award of 2k11-2k12 goes to David Lee. Lee had a crafty 21 points (10-19 FG) and brought the hustle on the glass with 12 rebounds. He outplayed superstar-in-the-making Blake Griffin.

The Warriors have 3 more games before the new year all at home versus the Bulls, Knicks, and 76ers. What will their record be heading into 2012?

Read More: Andris Biedrins (C - GSW), Monta Ellis (G - GSW), Chris Paul (G - LAC), Chauncey Billups (G - LAC), David Lee (F - GSW), DeAndre Jordan (C - LAC), Blake Griffin (F - LAC), Stephen Curry (G - GSW), Vinny Del Negro (H - CHI), Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State Warriors, Dec 25, 2011 7:

Very boring game We can?t score in the halfcourt. Our defense sucked in the 4th. But seriously, Clips flopped so many times last night. Got rewarded too. Very very very frustrating.

by Potential on Dec 26, 2011 12:52 AM PST reply actions Not gonna win too many games when our starting backcourt goes 8-31 Then Dorrell and Klay?s shooting woes continue. Nice to see our big men compete.

by LostHawkGSW on Dec 26, 2011 1:08 AM PST up reply actions 1-6? Not exactly lighting it up. Obviously Monta/Steph/Klay took more shots and that hurt more.

by Brownie13 on Dec 26, 2011 3:28 AM PST up reply actions wide open but he was missing them bad standing farther back behind the 3 point line than he has to and he clanked most off the front end.

by starbury_to_s-jaxci2000 on Dec 26, 2011 7:30 AM PST up reply actions Pretty good and pretty bad game at the same time Offensively everyone looked completely out of sync in the half court; kinda expected with a young team, with new coaching, and only 10 days of practice together.

Defensively we looked far better than at any point last season, even though our defense really broke down once CP3 went CP3 mode in the 4th.

If we keep up the defensive effort and keep improving it, with Andris playing like he?s actually a living being out there, I think we will have far better results in future games (doubt we will shoot THIS bad)

by j-spliff415 on Dec 26, 2011 1:14 AM PST up reply actions Agreed. If you contest he probably drives by you and slams it in your face.

by LostHawkGSW on Dec 26, 2011 1:10 AM PST up reply actions This may be a football conversation but Smith got a lot of crap that he didn't deserve. He was ok before this season haha.

by bigkino217 on Dec 26, 2011 1:15 AM PST up reply actions the best player of the night: brandon rush. scored effectively and efficiently. threw in a couple of nice blocks with some solid d.

also?. ish smith? he looked great. loved the hustle + the leadership. if he can learn to spend less time on the ball and more facilitating the space (a la some quick passes) we could have a quality backup pg.

by dubzfan on Dec 26, 2011 1:44 AM PST up reply actions yeah, that's what the yahoo recap said in the Notes section Also, on the Monta postgame interview mp3, he also said he just needed to ?get over it?, which I didn?t understand what they were asking Monta about about until I saw the recap notes.

by j-spliff415 on Dec 26, 2011 2:17 AM PST up reply actions Lol 2/3 of GSoM thought we were going to win "I'm not a big vegetable guy'' he says.

by Brownie13 on Dec 26, 2011 3:31 AM PST up reply actions A few thoughts about Sunday night's game 1. The whole ?Big Things Are Here? slogan makes sense. The frontcourt, led by Andris, was NBA sized. David Lee had a heck of a game. No more Kelenna at the 4, but it made sense that some of Mark Jackson?s lineups were made ?by feel.?

2. Klay Thompson had another bad night. Few Warriors shot well, but Thompson?s 2-8 was one of the worst performances of the night. He is a rookie, but he?s almost 22. Sure he?s not this bad, but I can?t see a huge improvement from the type of player he is now. The fans were definitely shouting ?Beat L.A.? not ?We want Klay!?

3. I obviously can?t expect Steph to play this poorly. He and Monta played as if they were going through tankdom (although the team looks just good enough to lose its draft pick), missing shots and turning the ball over to the Clippers as if it were a Christmas present and they themselves were Santa.

5. There?s so much hope for this Warriors fan/draft fiend. The Warriors looked sloppy enough for a tantalizing bottom-7 finish. Things would have to shake out just right for them.

by j-spliff415 on Dec 26, 2011 2:16 AM PST up reply actions The Warriors looked good at times... I thought Klay Thompson got better as the game went on. He?ll be fine. Ish looked good. Rush looked good. Beidrins looked good. I thought the team overall had better depth. They have to gel and that will take time. I agree with everyone that says we need to wait and see.

by j-spliff415 on Dec 26, 2011 2:16 AM PST up reply actions They are almost definitely the better team lol http://nbawarriors.wordpress.

by Taquito on Dec 26, 2011 5:51 AM PST reply actions NEW DRINKING GAME Whenever Atma does a post (preview or recap) everyone takes a shot whenever he mentions Nellie/WeBelieve.

Recap #1: Golden State Warriors 86, LA Clippers 105- 4th quarter collapse Warriors Game Day Links #1: Golden State Warriors 86 vs LA Clippers 105 - Sigh, looks like we're in for a long season 2011-2012 Golden State Warriors Preview- More of the same... EvanZ's 2012 NBA Win Projections Golden State of Mind Community Logo/Brand Brainstorm - Take 2! Who is the Golden State Warriors Other Core Player? + Snapdragon Giveaway PRESEASON RECAP #2: Golden State Warriors 91, Sacramento Kings 95 - Steph Curry Goes Down with Sprained Ankle, Makes Meaningless Game Meaningful Warriors Preseason Links #2: Golden State Warriors 91 @ Sacramento Kings 95 - Monta lawsuit, Curry ankle, and that's just the preseason Preseason Game #2 Golden State Warriors vs Sacramento Kings: So Much To Do, So Little (game)

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