MODA CENTER, PORTLAND, OR — The Golden State Warriors (48-4) were in the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Trail Blazers (27-27), currently a half-game ahead in the standings for the 7th playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Warriors were without Festus Ezeli (left knee surgery rehab) and James McAdoo (sprained left toe). Brian Roberts and Anderson Varejao were part of trades that brought them to the Blazers, but Portland waived the contract of Varejao.
1st Quarter – Lillard Closes
Both teams came out sharp, hitting 12 of their first 17 shots combined. The first play was an alley-oop:
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Stephen Curry hit two triples, both from about 27 feet deep on catches…
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…plus this nice cut…
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…and Harrison Barnes added another one, and although Klay Thompson missed his first couple jumpers, Draymond Green found him for an easy layup as Thompson wheeled around the perimeter then made a cut.
But Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum were just as effective, as McCollum drilled a couple jump shots and Lillard used his shiftness to keep the Warriors’ defense off balance.
Lillard went twice on a drive to the slipping big Mason Plumlee, with Plumlee converting a tough double-clutch over Andrew Bogut, then getting a slam dunk from a Lillard bouncer.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took the first timeout with 6:28 to go and the Blazers up, 21-17.
Bogut collected three blocked shots in the next sequence of plays and Curry answered a Lillard drive with his own, but a Moe Harkless dunk down the lane, fed by Gerald Henderson, got the Portland crowd alive and the Blazers took a 28-23 lead.
Curry, Green, and Marreese Speights missed consecutive layups and putbacks, Henderson scored a runner, but another Warriors broken play led to a timeout by the Blazers’ head coach Terry Stotts.
Steph missed another layup but got his own rebound, dished out to Andre Iguodala on the wing, who found Draymond at the top. Green launched and the bucket went in, out, and back in, to narrow the Blazers’ lead to 30-26 with 2:22 left.
But the Blazers, led by Lillard, went on a run to close out the quarter.
After a catch-and-shoot trey by Steph via Iguodala…
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…Lillard sneaked past Curry and his late swat attempt from behind, hit a three on a trail shovel pass by Harkless…
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…then pulled up from beyond the arc as Ed Davis set a nice pick on Curry.
Lillard then pulled and faded against Curry for yet another jumper and, just like that, the Blazers held a 42-31 lead going into the second frame.
2nd Quarter – Green’s Technical Stems Warriors’ Rise
The Warriors went cold in the second quarter while the Blazers got hot. Alan Crabbe hit two triples then assisted an alley oop to Henderson, who also got a dribble-and-pop to fall.
Meanwhile, Golden State went 1-for-9 from the field. Klay’s three from the left corner went off rim, Shaun Livingston right-baseline spin got nothing but air, and it wasn’t until Green came back in and swished an open three from the right side, aided by consecutive turnovers by McCollum, when the Warriors broke their drought.
But it was already 54-38, Portland holding a sizable lead, with 6:47 remaining by then.
McCollum added a beautiful big-stepped split of a double-team, going right-to-left with a reverse layup to give the Blazers their largest lead at 58-40 with 6:05 to play in the first half, but Thompson answered with a catch-and-shoot trey from the right side.
The Warriors clawed back with some gritty play, as Green got the ball in the left block late in the shotclock and bullied past Harkless for a layup, Barnes drew a traveling on Harkless the next time down, then tapped in a banker on Curry’s missed scoop shot in the lane.
Draymond also made a nice defensive save of a rebound to Curry, and Steph came down the court, gave a hesitation dribble against Lillard beyond the arc, and went past him for a righty layup:
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Stotts called anohter timeout and the Warriors had closed the gap to 58-52 with 3:29 to go.
A pick-and-roll three by Curry with Green…
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…then a Steph knock-out of McCollum’s drive led to an Iguodala dunk on a touchdown pass from Draymond, and the Warriors were back in business, down just 61-57 with Iguodala going to the line:
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But on Iguodala’s missed free throw, Green got entangled with Vonleh, got whistled for a foul, then exacerbated the situation by swinging his right arm in the air twice in protest. The referee charged Draymond with a technical, and the Warriors’ momentum burst:
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The free throws including the technical put the Blazers back up, 64-57, and even though Curry pulled a three over the pick-and-roll-defending Vonleh, Steph committed his third personal on the other end against Lillard.
Leandro Barbosa came in for Curry, and Lillard’s free throws made it 65-60, Blazers.
Thompson missed a catch-and-shoot triple, but Lillard’s spin in the lane went too hard and Klay got a reverse lay-in off a curl catch the other way with under ten seconds to go.
But Vonleh gave the Blazers a boost before halftime as he converted a pass from Lillard in the lane at the buzzer, and Portland held a 68-62 lead at halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @bbg_lifestyleofgina)
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