Warriors vs Blazers Preview: Western Conference Playoff Positioning Battle

warriors vs blazers preview (Photo: Jaime Valdez / USA Today)

Golden State Warriors (41-26) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (43-23)

Tip-off: Sunday, March 16th, 2014 – 6:00 PM PST

Location: Moda Center, Portland, OR

Spread:  Golden State (-2) meaning Warriors are 2-point favorites

TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM

Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @goldenstatenz)

Last Game / Streak:
CLE – Won 111-103 vs NO in New Orleans, Won 1 straight game
GSW – Lost 103-94 vs CLE in Oakland, Lost 2 straight games

Last Meeting Between The Teams:

Warriors won 103-88 as Curry had 38-and-8 wearing his gold Grammy shoes

Probable Starting Lineups:

Warriors:

PG: Stephen Curry (23.3 PPG, 8.6 APG, 4.4 RPG)

SG: Klay Thompson (17.8 PPG, 2.3 APG, 3.1 RPG)

SF: Andre Iguodala (9.3 PPG, 4.3 APG, 4.7 RPG)

PF: David Lee (18.5 PPG, 2.2 APG, 9.6 RPG)

C: Andrew Bogut (7.9 PPG, 1.6 APG, 10.1 RPG)

COACH: Mark Jackson (111-104)

Blazers:

PG: Damian Lillard (21.1 PPG, 5.6 APG, 3.6 RPG)

SG: Wesley Matthews (16.3 PPG, 2.4 APG, 3.8 RPG)

SF: Nicolas Batum (13.0 PPG, 5.1 APG, 7.2 RPG)

PF: Dorell Wright (4.9 PPG, 0.9 APG, 2.3 RPG)

C: Robin Lopez (10.8 PPG, 0.8 APG, 8.5 RPG)

COACH: Terry Stotts (191-204)

The Warriors head up north to face the Blazers, who are 1.5 games behind the currently 4th-seeded Houston Rockets and 2.5 games ahead of the Dubs in the Western Conference Playoff race.

The Warriors will have Thompson back in this game after he missed Friday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Draymond Green picked up the slack as much as he could, scoring 18 points, which was second to Curry in the Warriors leading scorers.

Portland will be without two very key parts to their teams success this season, LaMarcus Aldridge and Mo Williams are injured for the Trail Blazers. Aldridge missed Friday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, but Portland was still able to win without him on the road.

Chris Lucia of BlazersEdge.com:

Portland comes into this game still missing important backup big Joel Freeland, All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and sixth-man Mo Williams. Regardless of injuries to key players, the Blazers were able to regroup in New Orleans and dispatched the Pelicans with forward Dorell Wright replacing Aldridge in the starting lineup and extended minutes for guards Earl Watson, C.J. McCollum and Will Barton off the bench. Over the last five games, Portland wasn’t able to move the ball effectively, turned the ball over often, made only 42.7 percent of its shots and only a third of the three-pointers attempted. Against the Pelicans and with a depleted lineup, those numbers spiked to almost 49 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from deep to go along with 27 free-throws drawn and 111 total points.
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Point guard Damian Lillard was a huge part of the Blazers’ success Friday night, as could be expected. He’s made about 42 percent of his shots lately, along with 38.2 percent of his threes for an average of 22.6 points. Two nights ago, Lillard went 8-17 from the floor, 3-8 from deep and attempted 10 fouls shots, making eight of them while registering five assists. Clearly, Portland will need his offensive output tonight because there’s not a lot of scoring power for Blazers coach Terry Stotts outside of the starting lineup.
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Wings Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews both upped their aggression with Freeland, Aldridge and Williams on the bench, going a combined 14-29 from the floor and 7-16 from long-range for 22 and 20 points, respectively. Keep an eye on them around the perimeter tonight, because Golden State really tries to limit the amount of three-pointers attempted by the other team, and they’ve been one of the NBA’s best squads at doing so this year.
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In a welcomed burst of offense, center Robin Lopez hit 9-13 of his shots Friday night, putting in 19 points. He’s sometimes an afterthought in Stotts’ offense, but he responded well to getting his number called more often a couple nights ago and has been hitting over half his attempts, many of them coming off pick-and-roll action with Lillard or Batum and a formidable chunk of his offense coming off of put-backs he earns with his rebounding acumen on the offensive end. Wright, playing a stretch-four role that seems to suit him pretty well, also responded in a big way to extended minutes and shots Friday night, hitting 4-6 threes and scoring 15 points of his own. Lee might have the advantage in the key against Wright when the Warriors have the ball, but it goes both ways, as he’ll have a hard time checking Wright around the arc tonight.

Taylor Bechtold of STATS:

On the verge of its first three-game losing streak since November, Golden State held a lengthy team meeting Friday after blowing a 16-point lead against the Cavaliers to fall six games behind the first-place Clippers.
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“A lot of voices,” said guard Stephen Curry, who had 27 points after averaging 13.6 while dealing with a minor quad strain over his previous five contests. “You could tell people care. The fact that a lot of guys talked and voiced their commitment to what we’re trying to do is good.”
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Barring any travel problems, Golden State will have its third-leading scorer back as it attempts to shrink a 2 1/2-game deficit against the fifth-place Blazers (43-23). Thompson missed Friday’s game to attend his grandfather’s funeral in the Bahamas, snapping a franchise-record streak of 214 consecutive games played to start a career.
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Portland, however, will be short-handed after suffering a big blow to its frontcourt when Aldridge fell hard in the third quarter of a 103-90 loss at San Antonio on Wednesday. The All-Star forward, averaging team highs of 23.4 points and 11.1 rebounds, sustained a lower back contusion and will be re-evaluated next week.
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Without Aldridge, the Blazers needed their other All-Star to lead the charge as they ended a season-worst four-game losing streak with a 111-103 win at New Orleans on Friday.
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Trailing by three points with under five minutes left, Damian Lillard stepped up with a 3-pointer to tie the game before his jumper only seconds later gave Portland the lead for good. He scored 16 of his 27 in the fourth quarter, while Nicolas Batum finished with 22 points and Wesley Matthews had 20.
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“I mean, we had lost four games in a row,” Lillard said. “Then we finally were able to close a team out in the fourth quarter and come away with the victory. It was a great feeling.”

Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:

“With Damian and Wes and Batum, they’re a strong 1-2-3 punch,” Warriors point guard Stephen Curry said. “And they’ve got some guys off the bench as well that can come in and play well. They haven’t been playing as well as they wanted the last month, but it will be important for us to start off the game strong and be physical as best we can.”
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This is yet another game with implications on the Western Conference playoffs race, as Portland currently holds the No. 5 seed, 21/2 games ahead of the Warriors, currently at No. 6. The Blazers also have a slightly better conference record.
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For the Warriors, though, it’s about trying to regain the mojo of the first three weeks after the All-Star break, when they went 10-2.
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“It’s important for us to get back on track and make sure we stop the bleeding right away,” Jackson said.
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“We need wins,” Curry added. “I’m pretty sure they’re pretty secure in their playoff position; I don’t think they’re going to fall out of the playoff race. But this win is very important for us.”

Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:

“There’s more pressure on us to kind of just play the way we’re supposed to play,” Curry said. “It just happens that Portland’s next on the schedule. We’re going up there, and we need wins.
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“This win’s very important for us.”
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The Warriors might be 2½ games behind Portland for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, but they are actually closer to the dreaded No. 7 and No. 8 spots while sitting 1½ games ahead of Dallas and Memphis.
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Portland knows what it is to be in freefall mode, having lost four straight games before going without Aldridge and winning at New Orleans on Friday.
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“We don’t want to turn one bad loss into two bad losses,” Jackson said. “We’re playing against a talented, well-coached Portland team that’s enjoying a very good year, but it’s important for us to get back on track and make sure we stop the bleeding right away.”