Warriors-Clippers best rivalry in NBA, set to wage war for years

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Programming note: Clippers-Warriors coverage starts tonight at 6:30pm with Warriors Pregame Live on CSN Bay Area, and streaming live right here.

OAKLAND – The trash talk comes and goes, seemingly dependent on the direction of the wind. The scuffles also come and go, perhaps on a whim.

But now that the Warriors-Clippers truly matter, creating rivalry in full, there is nothing to indicate the beefing is going anywhere soon.

“This is definitely a team where there’s a real possibility we might see them down the line,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. “So you want to send a message as many times as possible. ‘Look, we’re not going to be an easy out, especially on our home court.’ It’s not going to be easy to come up here and get a win.”

The teams meet Wednesday night at Oracle Arena as two of the three best young squads in the NBA, with Oklahoma City as the third. The oldest core player on the Warriors or the Clippers, Chris Paul, is 30. These teams, already knee-deep in each other’s business, are set to wage war for years to come.

Consider the past: The Warriors last season beat the Clippers three out of four en route to winning the Pacific Division, the Western Conference and the NBA Finals. The Warriors privately longed to face Los Angeles in the conference finals.

And this, even further back: The Clippers, one season earlier, knocked the Warriors out of the playoffs. Though one can question if L.A. wanted to face the Warriors last postseason, there is no question the Clippers gagged away the opportunity.

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What once was a budding feud between teams on the rise, with neither having won anything truly significant, has evolved into a high-stakes skirmish, generally with the potential to escalate to brawl.

“Since I’ve been in the league it’s pretty much been the same core guys battling each other for the past four or five years,” Thompson said.

For the Warriors, it’s Steph Curry and Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala and, usually, Andrew Bogut, who is questionable for Wednesday as he continues to suffer the effects of a concussion sustained in the Oct. 27 opener.

For the Clippers, it’s Chris Paul and Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan and Jamal Crawford and, of course, coach Doc Rivers.

“These are always big games,” Curry said. “We play them four times, and they’re always a tough test. It’s going to be at our place, so we’ve got to come out strong and get that win.”

[POOLE: After hostile offseason, Warriors ready to rumble with Clippers]

Though there are other matchups around the league that generate at least a modicum of heat, none has the combination of ongoing familiarity, common geography and contender status within the same conference.

Warriors-Clippers has resulted, literally, in the spilling of blood. The past three seasons have been littered with ejections, squabbles, a post-game hallway confrontation, a notable post-game bump (that Green won’t forget) and more than a dozen technical fouls.

If it’s not Rivers baiting the Warriors, it’s Thompson taunting the Clippers. If it’s Griffin slipping in a cheap shot, it’s also Shaun Livingston taking notice and expressing his dismay.

Only two weeks ago, during a preseason game in Los Angeles, the teams combined for eight technical fouls, five of which were assessed to the Clippers. Paul picked up two within a second and was booted.

Warriors CEO Joe Lacob let it slip last week, during a radio interview, that the Warriors don’t like their SoCal enemy.

[REWIND: Warriors' Lacob calls out Clippers: 'We don’t like 'em']

Yet there was Green earlier this week feigning that there is nothing noteworthy about Warriors-Clippers.

“It’s another game on the schedule,” he deadpanned. “It’s the next game up. We’ve been excited for the past four games, and we’re going to be excited for Game 5.”

He didn’t wink or slide his tongue into his cheek. No need. We all know better. We know how they feel and what’s at stake.

It adds up to the best rivalry in the NBA, and one that the league’s aficionados hope to see in the playoffs sometime next May.

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