The Golden State Warriors were at Moda Center to face the Portland Trail Blazers tonight.
1st Quarter: Steph Splashes
The Warriors got off to a good start as Andrew Bogut hit two hook shots, Draymond Green hit a three-pointer, and Stephen Curry splashed a couple from downtown:
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Green, who got called for an early technical, then waltzed down the lane for a chin-up:
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But later, Curry missed a hesitation three after approaching the arc unmolested, then missed a wide open banker from right side too hard. Still, Curry remained on the floor as Jason Thompson joined Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, and James McAdoo for an interesting lineup, with the Dubs leading, 32-29.
That lead quickly evaporated. Thompson took two mid-range jumpers, neither all that close and the second missing everything. Portland went on a 13-3 run to end the quarter and take a 38-32 lead heading into the second frame. Curry led all scorers with 12.
2nd Quarter: Sloppiness
The Warriors continued their poor play as non-household-names Pat Connaughton and Alan Crabbe drained consecutive three-pointers, upping the Blazers’ bench to a 19-4 advantage over that of the Warriors.
Starter Harrison Barnes came back in, but promptly took an early three-pointer from the left wing that only went about 22 feet for an airball. On the other hand, Connaughton dribbled around him for an easy layup, to take a 50-39 lead.
Things could have gotten worse, but Leandro Barbosa tapped the ball out of Crabbe’s hands for an uncontested layup…
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…then Iguodala forced a shotclock violation by poking the ball out. Portland head coach Terry Stotts wisely took a timeout.
Barnes’ woes continued as he fouled Crabbe on a made three-pointer from the top. Things got even sloppier as Klay Thompson got beat on the dribble by Crabbe, who blew the layup, Curry tried to razzle-dazzle crossover little-known backup point guard Tim Frazier, which Crabbe finished with a swish jumper on the other end.
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Marreese Speights then took an off-balance jumper from the top again early in the shotclock that missed off rim badly.
With the starters back in, the Warriors made a mini-run, scoring 9 unanswered points as Klay…
A Klay Thompson ? from the first half (? not ours https://t.co/3MdDneerMD) #LetsGoWarriorsLive #SplashBrothers pic.twitter.com/H8lYsj1HKk
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) October 9, 2015
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…and Curry exchanged opposite corner threes, created by passes by Andrew Bogut — a pass to a cutting Green got deflected and arrived in Thompson’s hands, so Bogut did not get the assist — and Green driving down the middle to find Steph in the corner open momentarily for a catch-and-shoot.
Golden State closed the gap to 59-53 approaching 3 minutes after Klay converted a finger roll, but CJ McCollum ended Portland’s drought with a pull-up three-pointer from the top on a pick-and-roll.
Damian Lillard added an and-one from the left side after he got a pick-and-roll switch ending up with Brandon Rush guarding him. Lillard easily changed his pace on Rush and drew the foul.
The Warriors dug themselves an even deeper hole as Curry drove and threw his pass into Mason Plumlee, who led the break and putback a missed layup at the other end. Bogut then got called for a bad screen and another Crabbe three made it 75-59.
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Bogut tapped a loose ball from a Klay dribble to Curry for a triple, giving Steph 21 first-half points, but the Blazers took a 77-62 lead into halftime.
Klay had 14 points.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @butterpamcakes)
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