There was a large media contingent at Warriors’ shootaround on Wednesday morning – just hours before their game against the LA Clippers at Oracle Arena. Supposedly, the rival LA Clippers.
But if the Clippers are, in fact, a big-time enemy of the Warriors why weren’t any of the Golden State players asked about them? It’s true that during a media session that included access to Stephen Curry, Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingston at the team’s downtown Oakland practice facility, nobody asked any of them about the game against the Clippers later that night.
John Dickinson, my co-host on the “NBA This Week” on 95.7-FM The Game, was there. Not a peep about the Clips.
Reporters asked about the Warriors pursuing the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins during the 1995-96 season, whether or not the plan was to rest any players as the season winds down, the preponderance of home games remaining, the status of Ezeli, etc. But not a thing about the Clippers.
There’s a reason for that. This ain’t a rivalry anymore. Since the LA Clippers eliminated the Warriors two years ago in the postseason’s first round – in a seven-game series in which starting center Andrew Bogut didn’t play – Golden State has flat-out owned the Clippers.
Matt Steinmetz 