MODA CENTER, PORTLAND, OR — Two nights after defeating the Suns in Phoenix, the Golden State Warriors (2-1) were in the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Trail Blazers ().
The Warriors were without Patrick McCaw (sprained left ankle) and Damian Jones (pectoral surgery), while the Blazers were without former Warrior Festus Ezeli (left knee surgery).
1st Quarter – Yawn! No, I Mean Ian!
The Warriors got off to a rough start, going just 3-for-9 in the first four-and-a-half minutes, as Kevin Durant missed three jumpers but got a bucket on a nice feed from Draymond Green.
But Stephen Curry missed two treys on catches, while Damian Lillard hit two from deep.
The second triple by Lillard came after Klay Thompson missed a pivoting fade-away and Mason Plumlee grabbed an offensive rebound of a miss by Maurice Harkless.
With 7:31 remaining, that gave the Blazers a 14-7 lead, and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Zaza Pachulia fed Green for a layup, but Lillard hit a dribble-and-pop assisted by Plumlee.
Curry missed a runner, but Draymond picked C.J. McCollum and the sequence ended with Durant blasting past Harkless on the left baseline for a slam:
After Plumlee and Thompson traded buckets, then a rare miss at the line from “KD”, Steph stole a bad pass from Lillard, but Plumlee picked him cleanly from behind, leading to an attack by Lillard.
Curry fouled him, a half-second and a step later, “Dame” got the lefty scoop to drop, and the referee counted the bucket for an “and-one”. Lillard converted to give the Blazers a 21-14 lead.
But the Warriors clawed back as Green hit a catch-and-shoot triple from Durant in the low post, Ian Clark made a cut and got a layup out of it, assisted by Draymond, plus the harm, and David West upfaked Noah Vonleh twice in a row to get two points at the rim.
Evan Turner then dribbled off his foot, but Andre Iguodala smoked the fast break layup.
However, Vonleh missed a three, then as Green brought the ball up, Curry ran interference up top and Draymond fed Clark for a three up top.
Blazers head coach Terry Stotts called timeout as Golden State snagged a 25-23 lead with 2:54 to play.
Kerr brought Durant back in for Curry, Draymond swatted Portland big man Ed Davis, and after West and McCollum traded turnovers, Clark scored a layup in transition via Iguodala, getting the steal on McCollum’s bad pass.
McCollum finally broke the Blazers’ drought with a runner, but West found Thompson on a cut, then blocked Davis, and Klay got the long rebound.
Clark trailed Thompson, received the pass at the deep left wing, and calmly drained another triple:
Stay 🔥 @IanClark! pic.twitter.com/pByrpDS6iK
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 2, 2016
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McCollum missed a trey, and KD used the last possession to milk the clock and made a jumper up top with 1.6 seconds to go, giving the Warriors a 34-25 lead heading into the second stanza.
2nd Quarter –
Portland went on a mini-run to start the second quarter, as Turner hit a three, then a dribble-and-pop jumper, but Al-Farouq Aminu missed both free throws after Durant made a bad cross-court pass to Klay and Thompson hacked Aminu on the break.
After a floater by KD…
KD crosses over and gets the floater to go for the @warriors on @NBATV! #NBARapidReplay pic.twitter.com/GD9vAC9khW
— NBA (@NBA) November 2, 2016
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…Klay still had trouble from distance, drawing back-iron on a catch-and-shoot, but Turner threw the ball away to Shaun Livingston and Thompson used an upfake to burst past the defender and draw a foul at the rim on Davis.
McCollum committed another turnover and Livingston made him pay with a dribble-and-pop from the right baseline on him, and a TV timeout shortly thereafter left Golden State with a 40-32 lead with 8:55 left.
With 8:03 remaining, Green and Curry checked back in and Klay finally got a three to drop, assisted by Steph.
After Lillard missed a three with Allen Crabbe grabbing the offensive board, Draymond tied up Harkless and won the jump ball.
Steph then used a Pachulia pick, Turner bit, and Curry leaned into Turner to create contact and the whistle, but missed one of the two trips to the line.
Turner made up for with an inside post-up versus Livingston, Steph made a bad pass to Zaza, but the Blazers couldn’t capitalize as Crabbe’s three was short with Green lunging out, and Draymond then found Clark again on a trail from the left arc for three more, prompting Stotts to call another timeout as Golden State stretched their lead out to 47-38 with 6:21 to play.
After the timeout, Clark struck again as Plumlee missed a lefty finger roll at the rim, and this time Livingston found Clark darting to the hoop for another layup:
On @NBATV, Ian Clark off to a hot start for @warriors. 16p on 6/8 shooting from the field! #NBARapidReplay pic.twitter.com/Z6mFUrm5cW
— NBA (@NBA) November 2, 2016
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Steph got a layup assisted by Draymond, but Harkless answered with an upfake at the rim for a reverse layup, and Kerr called timeout to discuss the matter, up 51-41 with 4:29 to go.
Later, Livingston got a right baseline turnaround to drop, but Kerr called timeout as Aminu answered with a jumper. The Warriors were still up, 53-46,
Out of the timeout, Lillard stole a catch on a cut by Klay and drew foul shots on the attack against Durant, then Steph came back with a reverse layup…
Up & under by @StephenCurry30 on @CSNAuthentic. pic.twitter.com/0BSqgyBUET
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) November 2, 2016
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…but Dame got a pull-up three over Livingston from the left arc.
Thompson got blocked twice at the rim by Aminu, then after a bunch of empty possessions, Aminu missed a triple, KD got the ball on the move, and found Iguodala for a layup to put the Warriors up, 57-51, with 1:01 left.
After a Harkless miss, Kerr ran a play that brought Klay cutting towards a two-man game by Curry and Durant, forcing a switch, then another switch as KD set a pick for Steph. That created a mismatch in the post for Durant and he hit the fade-away.
Stotts called a timeout to setup his offense and McCollum drew two throws on a foul by Klay, Green did a pick-and-roll with Steph to force a switch with Davis, but Curry couldn’t connect, claiming he got grazed on the forearm while airballing the pull-up jumper.
But Aminu threw the inbound to Curry and Steph missed a near-halfcourt banker at the buzzer.
Golden State took a 59-53 lead into halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @amyd923)
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