Numbers preview: Golden State Warriors (1) vs. LA Clippers (8)

Is this the last run for this version (the one with Kevin Durant) of the Golden State Warriors?

Time will tell, but the quest for a third straight championship begins with a first-round series against a resilient LA Clippers squad, who somehow traded their leading scorer at the deadline and improved offensively after the trade.

The Clippers are the last Western Conference team to eliminate the Warriors in the postseason. Of course, there’s nobody left (except head coach Doc Rivers) from that Clippers team. In fact, there’s not a player on the Clippers roster that was on the team for its last playoff game just two years ago.

• Warriors-Clippers series hub | Shaun Powell’s series preview

Here are some statistical notes to get you ready for the 1-8 series in the West, with links to let you dive in and explore more. Game 1 is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Pace = Possessions per 48 minutes

OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions

DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions

NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions

Golden State Warriors (57-25)

Pace: 101.8 (10)

OffRtg: 114.9 (1)

DefRtg: 108.5 (11)

NetRtg: +6.4 (2)

Regular season: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups

vs. Clippers: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups

Warriors notes – General:

1. Tied with Milwaukee for the league’s best road record (27-14) and were the league’s best road team in regard to point differential per 100 possessions (plus-6.4), which was the same mark as they had at home (plus-6.4 – 10th best).
2. Were the league’s best third-quarter team (plus-11.7 points per 100 possessions) for the fifth straight season.
3. Were a league-worst 0-5 in overtime games.

Warriors notes – Offense:

1. The 114.9 points per 100 possessions they scored is the highest mark in NBA history. But in comparing the Warriors’ mark vs. the league average (109.7), this was just their fourth best offensive season of the last five years.
2. Led the league in effective field goal percentage for the fifth straight season. Their mark of 56.5 percent was the second highest in NBA history, lower than only their effective field goal percentage of 56.9 percent last season.
3. Led the league in assist percentage for the fourth straight season, recording assists on 66.8 percent of their field goals. Ranked second in secondary assists (3.9 per game), first in ball movement (396 passes per 24 minutes of possession), and third in player movement (11.7 miles traveled per 24 minutes of possession), according to Second Spectrum tracking.
4. Ranked 29th in time of possession (19.4 minutes per game), 30th average seconds per touch (2.62), and 30th average dribbles per touch (1.83).
5. Averaged just 27.0 drives per game, fewest in the league.
6. Had three of the five most efficient games of the season (141.7 points per 100 possessions or higher).
7. Only 26 percent of their points, the league’s second lowest rate, came from reserves.

Warriors notes – Defense:

1. Allowed their opponents to take only 28.6 percent of their shots in the restricted area. That was the league’s second lowest opponent rate (higher than only that of Milwaukee – 27.3 percent).
2. 10.2 percent of opponent possessions, the league’s second highest opponent rate, were isolations.
3. Led the league (for the third straight season) with 6.4 blocks per game.

Warriors notes – Lineups:

1. Lineup of Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green and Looney scored 121.5 points per 100 possessions and outscored opponents by 18.7 per 100. Those were the best marks for points scored and point differential per 100 possessions among 40 league-wide lineups that played at least 200 minutes together.
2. Starting lineup with DeMarcus Cousins scored 115.7 points per 100 possessions in its 268 minutes, third most among those 40 most-used lineups. It recorded assists on 75.5 percent of its field goals, the highest rate among the same group. The Looney lineup had the second highest assist rate (72.6 percent).
3. Stephen Curry led the league in total plus-minus, with the Warriors outscoring their opponents by 689 points with him on the floor. They were 18.5 points per 100 possessions better with Curry on the floor (plus-14.1) than they were with him off the floor (minus-4.4). That was the largest on-off NetRtg differential among 256 players who played at least 1,000 minutes for a single team. Kevin Durant had the fourth biggest differential (15.6 points per 100 possessions).
4. Andre Iguodala (plus-317) and Kevon Looney (plus-250) ranked second and third, respectively, in total plus-minus off the bench.

Warriors notes – Individuals:

1. DeMarcus Cousins has played 565 career regular season games, most among players who ended the season on a roster and have never appeared in a postseason game.
2. Stephen Curry had an effective field goal percentage of 60.6 percent with the score within five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, the best mark among players with at least 50 clutch field goal attempts.
3. Curry attempted 21.4 free throws for every 100 shots from the field, down from 35.0 last season. That was the fifth biggest drop in free throw rate among 229 players with at least 250 field goal attempts both seasons.
4. Kevin Durant shot 55.1 percent from mid-range, the best mark (minimum 200 attempts) for any player in the last 22 years.
5. Curry (28-for-29) and Durant (40-for-44) ranked second and third, respectively, in clutch free throw percentage (minimum 25 attempts).
6. Draymond Green recorded assists on 41.9 percent of his possessions, the highest rate among players who averaged at least 20 minutes in 40 games or more. He passed 81 percent of the time out of post-ups, the highest rate among 81 players with at least 100 total post-ups. He was one of two players (Russell Westbrook was the other) with at least 100 assists to three different teammates, with 116 to Thompson, 107 to Curry, and 100 to Durant.
7. Green shot 29 percent from outside the paint, the third worst mark among 218 players with at least 200 field goal attempts from the outside. He scored just 0.105 points per touch, the lowest rate among 226 players with at least 2,000 total touches.
8. Andre Iguodala ranked fourth in assist/turnover ratio (4.15).
9. Iguodala shot 83.3 percent in the restricted area, the best mark among 263 players with at least 100 restricted-area attempts.
10. Klay Thompson scored 0.466 points per touch, the second highest rate among 339 players with at least 1,000 total touches.
11. Thompson shot 70.2 percent in the restricted area, the best mark among guards with at least 200 restricted area attempts per game.
12. Curry (41.5 percent) and Thompson (40.9 percent) were two of three players who shot better than 40 percent on at least 100 pull-up 3-point attempts.

LA Clippers (48-34)

Pace: 102.8 (7)

OffRtg: 111.3 (9)

DefRtg: 110.3 (19)

NetRtg: +1.1 (13)

Regular season: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups

vs. Golden State: Team stats | Advanced splits | Player stats | Player shooting | Lineups

Clippers notes – General:

1. Had the league’s third best record (27-16) in games that were within five points in the last five minutes.
2. Led the league with nine wins (they were 9-24) after trailing by 15 points or more. Also tied with Houston (3-9) for the most wins (the Clippers were 3-19) after trailing by 20 points or more. All three of those wins (in Detroit, Charlotte and Boston) came on a seven-game road trip in early February.
3. Went 18-9 (the West’s fourth best record) after trading Tobias Harris. Ranked 11th offensively (110.9 points scored per 100 possessions) before the trade and ninth (112.3) after it.

Clippers notes – Offense:

1. Have ranked in the top 10 in offensive efficiency in each of the last eight seasons. The next longest active streak is six seasons (Toronto).
2. Saw the league’s second biggest jump in 3-point percentage, from 35.4 percent (23rd) last season to 38.8 percent (second) this season.
3. Had the league’s second best clutch offense, scoring 116.5 points per 100 possessions with the score within five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime.
4. Led the league in bench scoring at 53.2 points per game.
5. Took just 65 percent of their shots (the eighth lowest rate in the league) from the restricted area or 3-point range, down from 70 percent (the fifth highest) last season. That was the league’s second biggest drop.

Clippers notes – Defense:

1. One of three teams (the Nets and Sixers were the others) that ranked in the top five in both opponent 3-point percentage (34.3 percent, fifth) and the (lowest) percentage of their opponent shots that came from 3-point range (33 percent, fifth). Also, only 19 percent of their opponents’ 3-point attempts, the league’s second lowest rate, came from the corners.
2. Ranked eighth in opponent effective field goal percentage, but were the only team that ranked in the bottom 10 in each of the other four factors, ranking 27th in opponent free throw rate, 27th in opponent turnover percentage, and 21st in opponent offensive rebounding percentage.

Clippers notes – Lineups:

1. Starting lineup – Gilgeous-Alexander, Beverley, Shamet, Gallinari and Zubac – was the second best defensive rebounding lineup (grabbing 80.9 percent of available defensive boards) among 40 league-wide lineups that played at least 200 minutes together.
2. Were 17-4 when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Patrick Beverley and Landry Shamet played together and outscored their opponents by 10.3 points per 100 possessions in 331 total minutes with all three on the floor.
3. The Clippers outscored their opponents by 4.9 points per 100 possessions in 1,611 minutes with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell on the floor together and by 4.0 in 382 minutes with Williams on the floor without Harrell. But they were outscored by 6.9 points per 100 possessions in 548 minutes with Harrell on the floor without Williams.

Clippers notes – Individuals:

1. Patrick Beverley attempted 25.6 times as many 3-pointers (282) as mid-range shots (11). That was the fourth highest rate among 218 players with at least 200 total field goal attempts from outside the paint.
2. Danilo Gallinari is one of two players (Stephen Curry was the other) that ranked in the top five in both 3-point percentage (43.3 percent -fifth) and free throw percentage (90.4 percent – fourth). He shot 44-for-45 (98 percent) on clutch free throws, the best mark among players who attempted at least 25.
3. Gallinari had an effective field goal percentage of 55.4 percent, up from 46.9 percent last season. That was the fourth biggest jump among 229 players with at least 250 field goal attempts both seasons.
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Landry Shamet were the only rookies to play at least 1,500 minutes for playoff teams.
5. Montrezl Harrell (63.6 percent) and Gallinari (63.3 percent) ranked third and fourth, respectively, in true shooting percentage among the 96 players with a usage rate of 20 percent or higher.
6. Harrell ranked second with 17 double-doubles off the bench and third with 363 total points scored as a roll man.
7. Shamet shot 42.2 percent from 3-point range, which ranked 11th in the league and was the third best mark among 69 rookies in NBA history with at least 250 3-point attempts.
8. Lou Williams led the league in both points (1,485) and assists (397) off the bench, while also ranking fourth in total plus-minus (plus-226) off the bench.
9. Williams took 25.6 percent of his shots from 3-point range, down from 38.7 percent last season. That was the third biggest drop among 229 players with at least 250 field goal attempts both seasons.
10. Williams committed just 1.4 fouls per 36 minutes, fewest among 361 players that played at least 500 total minutes.
11. Ivica Zubac took 95.3 percent of his shots from the paint. That was the seventh highest rate among 274 players with at least 300 total field goal attempts.

Regular season matchup

Season series: Warriors won, 3-1 (2-0 at Golden State)

Nov. 12 @ LA – Clippers 121, Warriors 116 (OT)

Dec. 23 @ Golden State – Warriors 129, Clippers 127

Jan. 18 @ LA – Warriors 112, Clippers 94

Apr. 7 @ Golden State – Warriors 131, Clippers 104

Pace: 103.4 possessions (per team) per 48 minutes

Golden State OffRtg: 114.6 (6th vs. Clippers)

Clippers OffRtg: 105.4 (20th vs. Golden State)

Individual matchups: GSW offense vs. LAC defense | LAC offense vs. GSW defense

Matchup notes:

1. The first three games were played before the Clippers traded Tobias Harris. Lou Williams missed the third meeting and, with both Patrick Beverley and Danilo Gallinari out, got his only start of the season in the fourth meeting. So the Clippers’ post-trade starting lineup didn’t play at all against the Warriors.
2. For Golden State, Stephen Curry missed the first meeting and Andre Iguodala missed the fourth. DeMarcus Cousins missed the first two meetings and fouled out in just over 15 minutes in the third.
3. The Warriors were one of two teams (Denver was the other) to hold the Clippers under a point per possession in multiple games this season. They did it in the third and fourth meetings.
4. Curry (42 on Dec. 23) was one of five players with a 40-point game vs. the Clippers this season.
5. The Warriors’ starting lineup (with Cousins) was a plus-19 in its 20 total minutes against the Clippers. The Warriors outscored the Clippers by 48 points in 62 total minutes with Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green on the floor together. Curry and Green each registered a plus-35, the best plus-minus in a game vs. the Clippers this season, in the Warriors’ 27-point win on Apr. 7.
6. Williams was 30-for-32 from the free throw line in the three games he played, with the 32 attempts being the most attempted vs. the Warriors by any player this season. The Clippers were outscored by 20 points in 63 total minutes with Williams and Montrezl Harrell on the floor together.
7. In two games against Golden State (one with the Sixers and one with the Clippers), Landry Shamet shot 8-for-10 from 3-point range.
8. Avery Bradley (no longer with the Clippers) was the Clipper that defended Curry most this season. Beverley (who missed the only post-trade meeting) defended Curry for only 14 total possessions and the Warriors scored 75 points on 51 possessions (1.47 per) in which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was Curry’s primary defender.
9. Harris (no longer with the Clippers) was the Clipper that defended Durant most this season. The Clippers did OK (holding the Warriors to 67 points on 59 possessions) with Gallinari defending Durant.
10. Thompson was the primary defender on Williams, who scored relatively prolifically on those 62 possessions.