NBA schedule 2013: Warriors too mighty for Clippers

“Nah,” Rivers said quickly. “He’s ready. His legs have been fine. He’ll still be going too fast and he’ll make his mistakes. I just think the quicker we get to our lineup, the better. We’re going to get to it anyway, so why wait?”

Why wait, indeed. The C’s have been getting torched lately, losers of eight out of their last 10 including a brutal West Coast trip that saw them get beat by an average of 23 points per night. Add that to double-digit losses to Houston, San Antonio and Chicago right when the team thought it was about to hit its stride, and what you have in Boston is deep-seated concern that this season of so much expectation will be a dud.

The Golden State Warriors rolled over the Los Angeles Clippers to hand them their second straight loss, winning by a final score of 115-94. Golden State improved to 22-10 on the season and won their fourth-straight game of the season, while the Clippers dropped their second straight after winning 17 in a row.

Golden State opened up a 33-24 first quarter lead, extended it to 62-49 at halftime, and led 82-64 after three. The Warriors shot 49% from the field compared to 37% for the Clippers, with Golden State nailing 12 threes as well.

Stephen Curry scored 25 of his 31 points in the first half to pace Golden State, finishing with eight assists and six rebounds. David Lee added 24 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, Klay Thompson put in 17 points, Harrison Barnes contributed 13 points, and Jarrett Jack added 11 points.

For Los Angeles, Jamal Crawford put in 24 points, Chris Paul had 23 points and six assists, and Matt Barnes scored 19. Blake Griffin struggled with Lee, shooting 2-11 and scoring only 10 points.

I will choose to believe the latter.

But while the ejection will get some of the headlines, this was Johnson’s game. He went 11-for-19 from the field in the win.

Early on, it looked like Brooklyn would breeze by Oklahoma City. The Nets led by 23 points late in the second quarter, and at halftime they were ahead, 61-45.

Here’s a look at some of the craziness:

Dallas opened the game strong, jumping out to a 30-22 lead after the first quarter and pushing that out to double digits several times in the second quarter. Miami stormed back late in the half, trimming their deficit to 52-50 at the break. The Heat appeared to take control of the game in the third quarter, but the Mavericks fought back to set up the frantic final few minutes.

The Grizzlies outrebounded the Celtics, 39-27, though neither team had a player pick up more than eight boards.

After tearing an ACL last season, Rubio made an early return for the Timberwolves in December. The team is bringing him along slowly, however, as they take extra care of their young point guard. In five games this season, he’s averaging just over 18.4 minutes.

More than half of the league will be in action on Wednesday night, as 24 teams will tip-off on the second day of the 2013.

Los Angeles and Golden State are set to tip-off at 10:30 p.m. ET, in what appears to be the most entertaining game of the day. Despite a 17-game winning streak, the Clippers only lead the Warriors by four games in the Pacific division, as the Warriors have won 11 of their last 14 games.