The Warriors’ defense of old showed up tonight in their 98-79 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to win their second straight game and improve to 4-1 through their first five games of the 2025-26 campaign.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half. The Warriors jumped out to an early double-digit lead in the second quarter, but the Clippers came crawling back with the help of a 19-4 run to take a three-point lead heading into halftime.
But, as we have seen a lot during the first five games of the season, the third-quarter warriors are back, so there is no need to worry. The Dubs outscored the Clippers 32-14 in the third, including a dominant 16-2 run to end the quarter behind Jimmy Butler’s efficient 21 points on 9-12 shooting.
When you hold your opponent to under 80 points in the year 2025, that’s more than impressive. The third-quarter warriors forced five turnovers and only held the Clippers to six points for the remaining 9 minutes of the quarter. Talk about suffocating defense.
Quinten Post was a bright spot on the box score for the Warriors. He held his own out there against Ivica Zubac, one of the better centers in the league, and finished the game with a game-high +34, including 12 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
Draymond Green had a typical “Draymond Green stat line” of 7 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals with some suffocating defense on the side. Jimmy was also elite on the defensive end, holding Kawhi Leonard to only 18 points. Steph had a quiet night but only played 26 minutes, so it wasn’t too taxing for the old man tonight, which is good because he needs his rest. We need him down the stretch.
The Warriors move to 4-1. The Warriors now head to the Midwest for a quick two-game road trip. In Milwaukee on Thursday for a matchup against the Bucks. Then Indiana on Saturday for a matchup against the defending Eastern Conference champs.
Tipoff is at 5:00 PM PST in Milwaukee on Thursday.
Sports Talk by Zach Walsh 
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