The Golden State Warriors blew out the Los Angeles Clippers 98-79 at Chase Center on Tuesday to drop them to 2-2 on the season. It was an absolutely horrific showing on offense by the Clippers, who only had 10 assists on the night. The ball movement wasn’t great, and Kawhi Leonard spoke postgame about what went wrong offensively for his team against the Warriors.
“A little stagnant,” Leonard said. “Golden State did a good job… Forcing things, making us play fast, and we got into a rhythm of just coming down court, one pass shot, or not even that. Just come down shooting, and you can’t do that against a team like this, and they made us pay for it.”
The last time the Clippers had fewer assists in a regular-season game was back on Nov. 25, 2009, when they had nine in an 86-73 loss to the Indiana Pacers. It’s been a very long time.
In the NBA today, where coaches preach ball movement and the rules favor offenses, we don’t see teams put up just this many assists in a game all that often. From the 2019-20 season to now, there have only been two instances of a team recording fewer than 10 in a contest.
The Houston Rockets had nine assists in their 109-86 loss to the Boston Celtics on Jan. 3, 2025. That’s not the lowest tally, though, as the Toronto Raptors had eight in a 120-90 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Feb. 14, 2022.
What’s common here is that all these teams got blown out. You’re obviously going to struggle to keep up when the ball isn’t moving.
The Clippers went 30-82 (36.6%) from the field and 6-33 (18.2%) from beyond the arc against the Warriors. They scored just 30 points in the second half, and that isn’t a recipe for success.
There was plenty of blame to go around for this poor display, and Leonard certainly didn’t cover himself in glory. The 34-year-old had 18 points (7-17 FG), five rebounds, one assist, and one steal against the Warriors.
Leonard’s co-star James Harden, meanwhile, had 20 points (6-15 FG), four rebounds, one assist, and two steals. Harden is one of the finest playmakers of his generation, and this is just the second time that he has had just one assist in a game in the 2020s. The first time it happened was in a 122-86 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 31, 2024. As you can see, it was another blowout loss.
Getting back to the present, the Clippers haven’t particularly impressed at the start of this season, and head coach Tyronn Lue stated postgame that they’ll look better once Bradley Beal returns to the court.
“We are missing a key component, which is Bradley Beal, who gives us a shooter, a guy who can playmake, a guy who can handle the basketball as well,” Lue said, via Law Murray.
Beal has missed the last two games due to back soreness. It is unclear if the guard will be back when the Clippers take on the Pelicans next in the Emirates NBA Cup at the Intuit Dome on Friday at 10:30 PM ET.
