Lou Williams stole the spotlight from Kevin Durant with a brilliant performance in the Los Angeles Clippers’ 125-106 road victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, one that included a 30-foot shot in the dying seconds.
The Clippers guard finished with a career-high 50 points, 27 of which came in the third quarter.
Durant received a standing ovation from the crowd at Oracle Arena in the first half after he reached a major milestone: 20,000 points. The 29-year-old All-Star forward — who was the Finals MVP in 2017 — is the second-youngest NBA player to surpass the 20K mark.
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After the game, Durant commented on Williams’ big night:
“He ordered a 50-piece nuggets on us tonight,” said Durant, who had 40 points on Wednesday. “Somebody scores 50 on you the way he did — you’ve just got to pay homage and move on.”
The Warriors entered halftime up by four, but then Williams went on his explosive run to put the Clippers up for good.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he believed his team’s generally negative attitude played a major role in the loss.
“Our spirit wasn’t right,” said Kerr. “Our energy wasn’t right. We weren’t connected, and they were,” Kerr said. “The Clippers, they came in here, probably insulted that we were resting Klay, and obviously Steph goes down. … They came in and just kicked our ass.”
“I just didn’t like the way the game unfolded with our lack of energy — actually it was like a negative energy. I haven’t seen that often with this team over the last few years. So tonight was a bad night.”
Draymond Green finished with an astoundingly low seven points on 1-of-9 shooting, no steals, no blocks and a minus-16 for the game.
Here are more stats from Wednesday’s matchup:
Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports reported early Thursday that although the Clippers and Williams have discussed a contract extension, no deal has yet officially been reached.
The (33-9, 1st in Western Conference) next visit Milwaukee on Friday night, while the Clippers (19-21, 9th in West) will visit Sacramento on Thursday night.
OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 04: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors claps his hands during their preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers at ORACLE Arena on October 4, 2016 in Oakland, California.
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