ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — For their seventh and last preseason game, the Golden State Warriors (5-1) played host to the Portland Trail Blazers (4-2).
The Warriors were without Damian Jones (pectoral surgery), but JaVale McGee was deemed ready to play by the trainers after tweaking his knee in morning shootaround.
The Blazers listed Meyers Leonard (lower back) and Shabazz Napier (left ankle) as questionable, and Festus Ezeli (left knee) as out.
1st Quarter – Lillard Show Sidetracked By Curry Show
Portland hit eight of their first twelve shots, as Kevin Durant threw the ball away on the first Golden State possession, then exchanged misses with Klay Thompson.
Damian Lillard hit a jumper, C.J. McCollum got a floater to go down, Mason Plumlee finished a putback after getting initially blocked by Zaza Pachulia, and McCollum hit a trey and Lillard lofted a lefty lob to Plumlee for a smash to take a 16-6 lead over the Warriors with 8:00 remaining.
To make matters worse, Thompson upfaked McCollum, but C.J. didn’t bit and instead, knocked the ball out, resulting in a triple by Al-Farouq Aminu at the other end.
Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called timeout to stop the bleeding, and Portland held a 19-6 lead with 7:19 to play.
Out of the timeout, the Blazers continued to apply the pressure as Lillard scored six straight points, the first three on an “and-one” going impressively past Curry from the perimeter, the second on a triple.
Lillard went by Steph again, this time with the left bounce, and Durant couldn’t get going, falling short on a drive.
But Andre Iguodala took the ball away from Plumlee and Curry benefited with a reverse layup in transition:
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After a layup getting past Evan Turner on a curl play by Curry, Lillard missed, Iguodala tracked the board, brought the ball up, found “KD” on the right wing, and with the Blazers on their heels, drove inside for the gliding lay-in.
Sensing the momentum shift, Portland head coach Terry Stotts called timeout with 4:09 to go and the Blazers lead trimmed to 37-27.
Kerr inserted Patrick McCaw and Ian Clark to go along with Curry, Iguodala, and Draymond Green.
Iguodala got a steal from his former teammate Evan Turner, and Green missed a three from the top, but Steph tracked the ball down and, in stride, went to the left arc, launched, and buried a trey:
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Lillard tried an up-and-under lefty scoop against Draymond, but got blocked, and this time Curry missed from the arc up top, with Green getting the rebound and feeding Clark for a swish from the left wing.
Clark then got a wide-open reverse layup as the Blazers fell asleep heading back on defense, the assist by Draymond:
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Later, Durant made a nice slanting move into the paint for two after posting up on the block, which cut the Portland lead to 33-27.
KD added a three from the top, fed by David West…
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…and the Warriors were officially back in the game, as Durant got a runner to fall with 27 seconds left.
KD also got the rebound on the next Blazers miss, brought the ball up to Iguodala and, with options moving, finally hit Clark for an open trailing three, but Ian passed up the ball, ending with Iguodala launching a three that clanged off the back rim as the buzzer sounded.
Iguodala immediately turned to Clark as if to say, “Shoot the ball!” But Clark was already patting his own chest as if to say, “My bad.” and the two headed to the bench with Portland up, 37-32, after the opening frame.
Curry led all scorers with 14 points. Lillard scored 10 and McCollum 7. Green tallied 4 assists.
2nd Quarter – Curry Show Takes Over
Clark continued to play well, not passing up an open attempt from the top for three, assisted by Durant, but a Noah Vonleh dunk fed by Turner prompted Kerr to call a timeout with 9:13 remaining, down 40-35.
Out of the timeout, Klay threw up a spinning airball, but made up for it in a rather lucky way, as his three-point catch-and-shoot went in and out, but Vonleh couldn’t help himself and grabbed the ball as it was about to drop back down the cylinder. The refs initially ruled the bucket two points, but later changed it to three.
Curry then navigated his way past Zaza for three from the corner:
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Portland big man Ed Davis kept going inside against the smaller Warriors and got Durant on a reach-in, which was KD’s third foul, sending him to the bench. From there, he yelled at the ref the next time the Warriors came down the floor, and was slapped with a technical.
Steph hit two threes over a span of a minute, then after a Stotts timeout with Durant checking back in, got his third on a dribble-and-pop with a swish.
That gave Curry 23 points as the Warriors took the lead, 49-48.
After Lillard threw the ball away, zagging when a teammate zigged, Steph launched again on a dribble-and-pop over McCollum from up top and the ball took two bounces on the rim before dropping.
Curry was still hungry from more, double-crossing-over McCollum from 35 feet away, but the next three went short although the shot was on-line, and Lillard drew a body foul on Green at the other end, Draymond emphatic after the whistle but not enough to draw a technical.
With 1:54 to play, Kerr called a timeout.
The master of the “after timeout” (ATO) plays, Kerr drew up a misdirection play that ended with Iguodala sending Durant an alley-oop for a two-hand smash:
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But Aminu went easily past West on the right baseline, then the Warriors showed a little chemistry immaturity as Curry sent a lefty sling pass into the sidelines, pointing for KD to be there although Durant was headed to the top of the arc instead.
Lillard and Steph traded buckets in the paint against the forest for the trees, but chemistry reared its ugly head again on the last possession.
Curry threw the ball inside high to Durant, who drew a double-team, then passed the ball out to Iguodala on the left wing.
Iguodala had the Blazers on their heels and drove back into the paint, only to send the pass right between Steph at the top and KD on the right wing. The buzzer sounded before the ball went out of bounds, resulting in a non-turnover even though it was.
With that, Golden State took a slim 57-56 lead into the second half.
Curry led all scorers with 28 points on 10-for-15 field, 6-for-9 from downtown, while Lillard amassed 17 on 6-for-11, and KD added 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting and 5 rebounds. Draymond was stuck at 4 assists to lead the Warriors, who had just 11 assists on 19 made buckets to go along with 12 turnovers.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @dianediane)
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