Higgins’ 26 Points Help Warriors Beat Clippers, 129-108

Rod Higgins scored a career-high 26 points Thursday night as the Golden State Warriors raced to a 129-108 victory over the Clippers.

Higgins, who took over a starting forward position recently, had eight points in the first five minutes of the game, and the Warriors took a 12-2 lead. The Clippers (9-44) were never in contention and went down to their 24th defeat in 27 road games this season.

Forwards Purvis Short and Greg Ballard came off the bench to score 23 and 20 points, respectively, for the Warriors (28-30), and power forward Larry Smith had a season-high 20 rebounds. The Warriors had a 67-44 rebounding advantage.

The Clippers’ leading scorer was Larry Drew with 29 points. Mike Woodson added 19.

Joe Barry Carroll, the 7-foot center who is the Warriors’ leading scorer, missed his first game of the season due to a thumb injury suffered three nights earlier. Jerome Whitehead started at center for the Warriors and scored five points. Smith also played at center.