The Warriors flipped the switch. Or, maybe more accurately, the Clippers flipped the Warriors’ switch. Two days after a demoralizing and listless blowout against their talkative rivals, the Warriors finally looked like a team interested in defending their title. There was a night-and-day difference in intensity at both ends. The ball movement was faster, the rotations were tighter, the contests more aggressive and the scrums more physical. You almost had to feel for the lowly Kobe-less Lakers, who stumbled into the basketball equivalent of a wood-chipper (I say almost because, after all, these are still the Lakers). To repeat as NBA champions, the Warriors will have to be even better than last year’s squad.
Ready (Warriors 136, Lakers 97)
