HALFTIME RECAP WITH HIGHLIGHTS: Warriors Give Away Big Lead, Shoot Blanks, Lead Portland Trail Blazers Just 53-50

Q1: KD Strong

Golden State got off to a strong start as Kevin Durant and Zaza Pachulia both hit jumpers from inbounds on the baseline, , Durant scored on a bad save by Noah Vonleh, attacking early…

…and Klay Thompson added a triple from a Durant post-up, then a fade-away after a miss was tapped back to him by Draymond Green.

Green then scored inside on a pass from Pachulia and Blazers head coach Terry Stotts called timeout with 6:16 remaining, the Warriors up 15-10.

Out of the timeout, Durant got a long rebound, led the break, found Thompson on the right wing, who missed, but Durant got the offensive board near the three-point line and splashed from the top, giving the Warriors a 20-10 lead:

“KD” hit another jumper and stared at a Blazers fan courtside, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr inserted JaVale McGee and McGee immediately notched a blocked shot, but Durant threw the ball away with a sling pass and Allen Crabbe got the uncontested run-out dunk.

Ian Clark came back at the other end to feed McGee inside for an and-one, and the Warriors had their largest lead, 25-14, with 2:29 to play.

KD made a long two on a very high post iso right side over Maurice Harkless, and Kerr had a lineup of Clark, Patrick McCaw, Andre Iguodala, Draymond, and JaVale in as Green buried a triple on a tic-tac-toe catch from Clark via McCaw.

But C.J. McCollum answered with a triple, then a drive into the lane with 2.5 seconds left, drawing a foul on Draymond, although he claimed he was pushed into McCollum by Meyers Leonard.

McCollum sank one of two free throws and the Blazers trailed, 33-24, heading into the second stanza.

Q2: Lead Slips Away

The Warriors started to pull away early in the second quarter. Livingston got a steal and outlet to Iguodala for a high-board finish, plus the harm:

James McAdoo came in and got a possession out of bounds on an offensive rim run, then caught the ball inside and converted after an up-fake.

Thompson came back in, hit a jumper, got to the line drawing a foul on Damian Lillard, after a high-post cut and pass from Durant to Pachulia for a dunk, Klay blocked Lillard on a drive and went the length of the floor to find KD for the layup, which gave the Warriors a 51-30 lead with 5:30 to go:

After a timeout by Stotts, the Blazers chipped away. Al-Farouq Aminu got things started with a triple, then Zaza got called for a bad screen after Clark went through the “elevators” screen set by Iguodala and Pachulia.

Later, Durant missed a floater down the right side and McCollum came back with an up-fake, going past Green for an uncontested layup. Kerr called timeout as the Blazers crept back to 53-39, but it didn’t work.

Draymond took an ill-advised three on the right wing, Thompson smoked a layup down the lane, Green threw the ball away on a post-up against McCollum, although he wanted a grab of the arm called, and Livingston couldn’t connect on his patented baseline jumper, resulting in a Lillard three off a swing pass from McCollum, side-stepping Livingston in the process.

Just like that, Portland was back in business, down just 53-48 with 40 seconds to go.

KD missed back-iron from up top on the two-for-one attempt, every Warrior lost track of Evan Turner, who scored an uncontested reverse layup thanks to weaving, hesi-ing, and crossing dribbles by Lillard, and the Blazers were now down just 53-50.

Draymond tried to post up McCollum again, but got called for an offensive hook. Luckily, McAdoo knocked the inbound away harmlessly, Klay couldn’t get a halfcourt heave up in time, and the Warriors took a 53-50 lead into halftime.

The Warriors shot just 6-for-20 (30%) in the second quarter.