One night after disposing of the struggling Wizards, the Golden State Warriors were at the Moda Center to face a very much depleted and reeling Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers were without all-star LaMarcus Aldridge, as well as Nicolas Batum, Chris Kaman, and Wesley Matthews.
The Warriors were at full strength, although head coach Steve Kerr announced at the morning shootaround that he would rest Shaun Livingston. Ognjen Kuzmic is still on assignment at Santa Cruz.
1ST QUARTER: Back And Forth With “Blazin'” Speed
The game got off to a fast-paced start. Also, Damian Lillard was matched up on Klay Thompson while Alonzo Gee, filling in for the injured Batum, matched up his longer arms on Stephen Curry.
So the first play for the Warriors after winning the opening tip was to go to Thompson on the high post and he delivered with a turnaround jumper over Lillard. Klay also got a trey to swish from the right elbow, cutting up as Andrew Bogut surveyed and assisted him.
Portland and Golden State would go tit for tat, as Bogut got blocked by Robin Lopez on one end, but Dorrell Wright, playing power forward in place of Aldridge, got blocked by Klay. Draymond Green got a nice save of Thompson’s block from going out of bounds, then Klay tapped the ball nicely to himself, led the break, and found Harrison Barnes for a triple from the deep left elbow in transition, and the Warriors had an early 8-3 lead.
But Arron Afflalo answered the call, getting a trey then a swish dribble-and-pop jumper that was preceded by a long two-pointer from the left corner by Curry that Bogut did well to deliver over the trees.
Both teams kept going at each other, as Lillard tipped Thompson’s fadeaway jumper, then ran back to the baseline to save the ball. Curry came back and tried to blow by Lillard with a “hesi”, but missed the layup. Later, on an inbound from the baseline, Curry found Barnes for a two-handed jam coming off of a backscreen.
Bogut added his own two-handed slam shortly thereafter when Thompson missed a reverse layup and the big Aussie got past Lopez on the offensive boards.
Still, Wright maintained his aggression against his former team, driving hard to the hole on multiple occasions, as well as drilling a three-pointer on a nice attack dribble-drive by Afflalo. After Curry answered a Gee right-handed baseline layup as a result of retrieving a loose ball that Green had tapped out of Lillard’s dribble, Blazers head coach Terry Stotts called timeout and it was Portland up, 17-16, with 5:32 to play.
Bogut was guilty of a couple turnovers again, though. Previously, he had his lines crossed up — something Warriors fans have been seeing all too often — with Klay, as Thompson posted up on the smaller Lillard and zigged when Bogut thought he would zag. Later, Bogut had the ball up top and traveled.
It didn’t count as a turnover, but a long two-point step-back by Curry airballed, then Green didn’t stop in time on a dribble down the left sideline and was called for a charge.
Those mistakes were enough to give the Blazers a sliver of separation and they had a lead of 26-20 with 2:58 remaining.
Festus Ezeli subbed in for Bogut and immediately made a contribution, fielding a miss inside by Andre Iguodala and dishing back out to Curry, who drove back in and got a pretty early-release-point finger roll over Portland’s bigs.
With the quarter winding down and after Barnes found himself as a “stretch-four” matched up by the seven-foot Meyers Leonard and swished a dribble-and-pop with 52.3 seconds left, Lillard drove hard on Leandro Barbosa, spun hard in the blink of an eye and drew a body block from Ezeli, although Festus blocked the shot attempt.
Lillard’s free throws gave the Blazers a 30-26 lead heading into the second frame. He also led all scorers with 12 points and Portland committed zero turnovers compared to Golden State’s four. The Warriors were also called for 5 fouls versus the Blazers’ one.
2ND QUARTER: Chef Curry With The Hops
The high pace of action continued in the second period. Both bench units kept scoring, especially CJ McCollum. The Portland backup shooting guard got a triple from the right elbow to drop after Marreese Speights went too hard driving into the lane from left to right, then McCollum scored a dribble-and-pop against Thompson, then got another trey to give him 10 early points off the bench.
Green answered with a jumper delivered by Curry and Stotts called a timeout with the Blazers up, 47-41, with 6:28 to go in the half.
Portland then executed the high pick-and-roll perfectly, as various Blazers guards such as Lillard and Afflalo took turns taking screens 25 feet away from the hoop. Lillard started things off and made a swing pass to the awaiting Wright for a triple on the left elbow, then Dame drained his own three from the top, again thanks to Lopez.
The Blazers were on a 15-4 run, but Curry broke the mini-drought as Iguodala posted on Lillard on the low right block, spun, and found Curry open for a brief second in the left corner. Steph hit the shot with Lopez closing in.
Next, Lillard drove hard down the left side of the lane but stepped on the baseline for a turnover, and Curry immediately came back and pulled up from beyond the arc up top. That trimmed the Blazers’ lead to 53-47 with 4:34 to go.
But the duel between the two great point guards continued as Lillard came back with a darting penetration off the dribble from the deep right elbow into the paint, hanging and drawing a foul on Thompson as Klay was guilty of putting a hand on Dame. Lillard managed to convert the try for an and-one, and Portland was back up, 56-47, with 4:08 remaining.
Bogut got a putback of a missed layup after Curry weaved through traffic in the halfcourt, but Gee was in the right place at the right time again, picking up a loose ball under the basket for a two-handed lay-in, and after Thompson drove hard on Steve Blake in early offense for an and-one layup, Afflalo came back with that pick-and-roll with Lopez against Curry and faded away for a jumper good.
Kerr called timeout after this trading of buckets and the Blazers maintained the lead at 60-52 with 2:42 left.
Portland only committed two turnovers the entire half, while Golden State coughed it up six times, but there was once again another play that might as well have been a turnover. The ball got tapped into the Warriors backcourt. Curry gave chase, as did Gee, and the ball went out of bounds 94 feet away, with just 5 seconds left on the shotclock.
Steph took the ball in and dribbled through the Blazers like an obstacle course into their painted area, but inexplicably threw the ball out to an open Barbosa from beyond the arc. The shotclock horn went off before Barbosa could launch the triple. Shotclock violation!
Luckily, Lillard missed a pull-up, then on the ensuing possession, Bogut recovered his own mishandle of a pass and, on the broken play, found Green wide open at the left elbow. Draymond gave an extra swing pass to Barbosa in the left corner and his three-pointer cut the deficit to 60-55 with 1:38 remaining.
Bogut would foul on an offensive rebound attempt, putting the Warriors in the penalty and sending Wright to the line for two free throws that he converted, but Bogues would atone by blocking a drive by Lillard trying to end the quarter with the last possession. Green picked up the loose ball and lasered a pass to the streaking Curry, who dunked home the half’s final points.
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The Blazers took a 62-57 lead into halftime. Curry had 14 points on 6-for-11 field, 2-for-3 downtown, and Thompson added 12 on 4-for-9 shooting. Bogut had 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Lillard led Portland with 18 points, Wright added 12, and McCollum had his 10 off the bench.
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