From here on out, I believe every loss that the Blazers get will be heartbreaking and an emotional rollercoaster. The Portland Trail Blazers fall to the Golden State Warriors 113-112 on Sunday night. The Blazers fall to 43-24 on the season and still hold a 24-9 record at home. The Warriors improve to 42-26 on the season and sport an impressive 21-15 record on the road.
Where to start? Portland looked to have control of this game. At the end of the first half, the Blazers had an 11-point lead and looked to be well on their way to an impressive victory. Stephen Curry, Golden State’s superstar, was just 3-for-9 in the first half from the field and Klay Thompson was 2-for-5. Furthermore, Portland was shooting the lights out from three-point range. Batum went 4-for-4 in the second quarter, three of them being three-pointers. The defense forced Golden State into some tough spots, but overall Golden State was just missing shots that they normally make. Stephen Curry missing a wide-open three-pointer after having time to plant his feet? That never happens.
Even without LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland put the hurt on Golden State early. Golden State tried to take advantage of matchups in the paint specifically David Lee and Dorell Wright. Well, it worked just not well enough. David Lee did score 10 points in the first quarter, but with the hot shooting by Portland they were able to take a one-point lead into the second quarter despite matchup problems and hot shooting off of the Warriors’ bench.
Throughout the game, you had this feeling like the Warriors were not done. They were missing a lot of shots and oddly a lot of three-point shots. At one point they were 1-for-12 from the downtown. Again, that doesn’t happen. However, Blazer fans probably pushed that emotion away after having an 18-point lead at one point and taking an 11-point lead into halftime. Good teams have bad nights, maybe Portland just got lucky. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. The backcourt for Golden State apparently had some shooting juice at halftime because despite being non-existent in the first half, they were the whole story in the second half. Stephen Curry finished with 37 points on 11-for-24 shooting, 6-for-12 from three. His partner, Klay Thompson, finished with 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting, 3-for-7 from three.
In the fourth quarter, Curry was on fire and it seemed that all Golden State needed to do was set a screen and let Curry do the rest. Portland could not get past the screens or keep up with Curry. However, part of this is not on Portland’s defense. Curry got extremely hot and there was only so much you could do. But, Portland could have tightened the screws a little bit and forced them into taking two point shots instead. Throughout the comeback, Portland was still scoring buckets, but Golden State kept chipping at the lead one point at a time because they were hitting so many threes. In the entire second half, you could watch the 11-point lead slowly dwindle to the point where the Blazers had to fight for a lead.
Despite all of that, Portland was still in a great position to win the game. With 4:15 remaining, Nicolas Batum hit a 25-foot three-pointer that gave the Blazers a two-point lead. All the Blazers had to do was play some defense, which they did, and then score on the other end. Damian Lillard missed a 26-foot three pointer and then Klay Thompson went to the FT line on the other end to secure the Warriors a one-point lead. Portland would never have the lead again. Bad passes and cold shooting hurt the Blazers once again. Down the stretch in this game, Golden State wasn’t really as hot as people think. When Klay Thompson hit a 25-foot three pointer with 0:53 remaining, which was the first time the Warriors had scored since 2:28. It also came down to second chance opportunities. Curry and Thompson both missed jumpers in the same possession before Thompson hit the critical three.
Free throws were also a factor. Batum went to the line with a chance to tie the game with 5.8 remaining in the fourth. He made the first one, but then missed the second. He did get the rebound, but threw up a wild shot that didn’t have a prayer.
A stat that is starting to creep out is Portland’s record against over .500 and playoff contending teams in the Western Conference. They haven’t beaten a team over .500 since January 18th against Dallas. I guess the silver lining you can take is that the Blazers are basically losing by 4-to-6 points at the most, but still those are losses. The clutch gene that was prominent in the early goings of this season has seemed to have vanished. Free-throws are no longer as dependable, especially late in the fourth quarter and Portland is still continuing to struggle with scoring in some spots. Some of that you can put on the fact that the Blazers are currently without their other all-star LaMarcus Aldridge, but Portland was able to get an 18-point lead and doing what they do best. Not only that, but they were at home. Losses like these hurt in more ways than one.
Offensively, Portland was firing on all cylinders. They went 12-for-28 from beyond the arc and shot 43%. They only missed four free throws, but one coming at a crucial moment that could have sent the game into overtime. They out-rebounded and out-assisted Golden State, but this was just a case of a couple of players getting extremely hot offensively and Portland not having an answer.
Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum lead the charge. Lillard ended with 26 points on 8-for-22 shooting, 1-for-6 from three and had 7 assists. He also had zero turnovers.
Batum continues his dominance on the glass as he finishes with 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting, 5-for-9 from three, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Batum is blossoming right now and it feels like he is bursting out of the box that he has been in for a while. His rebounding will obviously go up whenever LA is out, but he is stepping up which is all you can ask for.
Next up, the showdown that is the Milwaukee Bucks. Not much to say about this team. They are bad. They have only won 13 games this season and do not seem to be changing that anytime soon. The Blazers literally have no excuse if they lose this game. This is the kind of game where you come out early and get a huge lead and then just rest the starters, hopefully. Either way, this is the perfect bounce back game. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. PST at the Moda Center on Tuesday night. Stay tuned!