Clippers fall to Golden State, 109-91

Eric Gordon wasn’t bad, DeAndre Jordan was serviceable in limited minutes and no one was seriously injured.

And that would be it.

The rest was truly awful for the Clippers. Two games into the season for a laugher is ahead of the curve even by Clippers standards as the Golden State Warriors crushed them, 109-91, on Friday night at Oracle Arena.

You don’t need an Oracle to say that the Clippers (0-2) seem defensively challenged.

Compared with the effort against the Warriors, they looked like a tight defense unit in giving up 98 points to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. Gordon, again, led the Clippers in scoring with 19 points and hit two three-pointers.

Golden State had 90 points after three quarters and essentially took the foot of the gas pedal in the fourth, playing without star guard Stephen Curry, who reinjured his right ankle in the third quarter.

“We have to have more of a defensive urgency, especially in the third quarter,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “Really for the whole game, I thought our weak-side defense was very poor tonight. We weren’t aggressive. But Golden State spreads you out and they got some good performances from a few guys.”

The game got so far out of reach that the Warriors, who hit 14 three-pointers, were even able to get a local hero, undrafted Jeremy Lin, into the game in the final minutes, thrilling the crowd.

So back to the Clippers and the burning question: Can Del Negro hold a four-hour practice Saturday? Will he?

Struggles were team-wide. Chris Kaman, who went four for 18 in the opener, found his touch elusive again, missing his first four shots. He finished five for 14 for 13 points and had plenty of company in shooting woes.

Baron Davis was five for 13 (16 points), and though Blake Griffin had another double-double — 14 points and 10 rebounds — he got into foul trouble and went scoreless in the second and third quarters.

Despite a ragged start, the Clippers trailed by four points at halftime. Then they played the third quarter, a frequent trouble spot even during the preseason.

The Warriors broke the game wide open with an 18-2 run, taking a 76-56 lead with 6:19 remaining, and that was it. Dorell Wright led the Warriors with 24 points and tied a career high with six three-pointers, and point guard Monta Ellis had 15 points and 11 assists, the 15th double-double of his career.

“It was very frustrating to be down four at the beginning of the second half, and just come out and just be torn apart like that is just frustrating,” Griffin said. “It’s not the end of the world, I guess.”

Said Del Negro: “We were behind so we had to try to speed the game up a little bit more, which played into their hands.”

Curry, who finished with 16 points, had problems with the same ankle in the preseason, and it appeared as though he turned over on it when he was trying to get around Griffin to guard Gordon.

Griffin chuckled, ruefully, when asked if there were any concerns being down 0-2.

“Obviously we’ve got to get some wins,” he said. “But if I’m not mistaken, we’ve got 80 more, so I think we’ll have a chance to change that 0-2 record.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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