Three games in and already a heart-pounding thriller of a game has occurred. What would you expect from a Golden State Warriors game? Unfortunately, the Portland Trail Blazers fell short as they lost to the Warriors 95-90 in what was a very winnable game and showed some issues that Portland needs to work on.
Coming into the game, the mindset was that it would be a high-scoring three-point shootout. If anybody remembers the last game played against the Warriors, three-pointers were seemingly coming from everywhere. Heck, even Draymond Green made one. Tonight’s game was anything but that. Offense and buckets were hard to come by and the ball seemed to be covered in butter.
The Blazers fell behind early as the Warriors outscored them in the first quarter 30-22. For the first two minutes of this game, lay up after lay up from both teams seemed to rim off or get blocked making someone wonder if the final score would be 2-0. However, the scoring quickly resumed and the Warriors jumped out to a quick 14-7 lead. Before Portland knew it, they were staring at a 10-point deficit. Memories of the 2012-13 season are flooding in. Portland’s offense eventually got going, but it was ugly. Klay Thompson, who is having a heck of a few days coming off of a recently signed extension and a career high 41-point game, continued his hot streak. He shot 6-for-12 from the field in the quarter and had 15 points. He was the bulk of Golden State’s scoring who as a team shot 50%. Portland? No one was hot. They shot 26% from the field in the quarter going 7-for-27 and went 1-for-8 from range. Also, committing three turnovers. Sloppy basketball. The trend started.
The second quarter saw the Blazers wake up as they outscored the Warriors 26-21. Buckets were not going to be easy, but their effort on the defensive end and on the glass cannot be questioned. They shot 48% in the quarter and 60% from three. Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez provided the spark by scoring nine points and six points respectively in the quarter. Thomas Robinson, seeing some time since Joel Freeland was inactive for this game due to injury, provided the energy he has plenty of. He provided four points and five rebounds including a pretty one-handed alley-oop dunk. Again, however, three turnovers were committed. Three. Three. That number keeps coming up. It is like a bad Christopher Nolan movie.
In the third quarter, the Blazers continued to attack. They shot 41% in the quarter, but just 14% from three going just 1-for-7. The three-pointer for Portland has just not been there. When they have had open looks (and there have been few), the shots are incredibly flat or rim out. In this game, the three pointer was better, but not by much. LaMarcus Aldridge found his rhythm as he went 3-for-6 in the quarter and had seven points and five rebounds. Nicolas Batum provided his best offensive quarter as he went 2-for-3, including one three-pointer and had five points, three rebounds and two assists in the quarter. Again, Portland seemed to fighting with themselves. After a made three-pointer that put Golden State up by six with 5:35 remaining, Portland was only able to score six points in three minutes. Golden State missed ample opportunities to punish the Blazers, but Portland was doing the same thing. Portland only made three shots in that stretch. Portland also committed five turnovers. Number is going up now. Good, if I hear three again, I might have thought there was a conspiracy.
The fourth quarter, at least at the beginning, was more the style that this game was supposed to take from the beginning. Offense coming out of your ears. Portland and Golden State matched each other until Portland jumped out to a three-point lead with 3:51 remaining in the fourth after a made LA jumper. First, let me just say that LA was fantastic. He had 10 points in the quarter and was 5-for-7 from the field. Matthews continued his solid play by providing five points in the quarter on 2-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 from three. Both teams shot a high percentage. Portland shot 50%, while Golden State shot 56%. The biggest difference? The three-point shooting. Portland attempted seven, but made just two as they shot 29% in the quarter. Golden State only attempted three, but made two shooting 67%. Portland also did not get to the line at all in the quarter. Golden State went 7-for-8 and Portland went, you guessed it, 0-for-0. Not good.
Probably the most heart-wrenching part of this game was the end. Portland was up by one with the ball and looked to be in good position to score and put some space between them and Golden State. Portland ends up losing the ball in a scrimmage after a review. One turnover. Portland still has a chance, they just have to play good defense. Klay Thompson makes a bucket putting Golden State up by one with 0:08 remaining. Portland is still in decent position and considering how good LA was playing, it was not a bad spot to be in. That is until Portland turns the ball over on the inbounds pass and Portland was forced to foul putting the Warriors up by three. Two turnovers. Portland still has a chance to send it to overtime. LA sends a bullet pass that was intended for Matthews that was picked off by Curry. How many turnovers is that? THREE! Conspiracy it must be.
On a serious note, Portland lost it in the last 30 seconds of this game and they did it to themselves. Three turnovers on their last three possessions does it for any team and really sealed up a trend that was evident throughout the entire game. Golden State had 17 turnovers, but Portland had 19 total. That is ugly. Portland’s passes do not seem to have intent behind them. Batum, LA and Robin all had three turnovers and a lot of them were lazy passes or just bad ideas. It is surprising to see such a well-oiled offensive machine from last year look sluggish and hesistent this year. Understandable in some sense as it is only the third game of the season, but also something that needs to be fixed up as the season progresses.
The big elephant in the room, however, is Damian Lillard. Where is he? He finished tonight going 4-for-18, 1-for-7 from three, with five assists and six rebounds. Teams are targetting him hard. Sending double-teams and swarming him whereever he goes. His defense has been good at spots, but in general it has not been the greatest. The more concerning aspect is his three-point shot. Multiple three-pointers from him tonight bounced off the front of the rim and looked extremely ugly. Lillard will come alive in time, I feel, but the offense, understandably is suffering slightly because of it. On a positive note, the fact that Portland is in these games with Lillard playing poorly should give fans confidence that this team is better.
Portland did outrebound the Warriors 56-41. So, the Blazers got the rebounds and even got second-chance opportunities. It is just a matter of knocking them down. The FT line, again, was a big advantage to the Warriors. Golden State finished going 17-for-21 from the line, while Portland finished going 9-for-14 from the line. While this was not the main culprit by any stretch, it certainly did not help.
Just to further emphasize the fact that this was not an offensive game, the Warriors finished going 6-for-19 from beyond the arc and Portland finished 7-for-27 from behind the arc. Both teams struggled mightily from three point land.
LA dominated as he finished with 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting, 0-for-2 from three and had 13 rebounds. LA was solid, especially in the second half. He did his job and was himself.
Matthews continues to push this offense along in the early stages of this season. He finished with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting, 3-for-9 from three. With Klay Thompson signed to an extension, should Portland lock Matthews up? Thompson was the only shooting guard that seemed reasonable to trade for. Now, I do not see too many that are better.
Steve Blake, again, is providing stability and toughness to that bench. He finished with eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, 2-for-4 from three and five assists. Robin Lopez played just 27 minutes, but had 12 points on 6-for-13 shooting and 10 rebounds.
Klay Thompson was the Warriors’ leading scorer. He finished with 29 points on 11-for-22 shooting, 3-for-7 from three. Stephen Curry, who usually torches the Blazers, finished with 21 points on 6-for-18 shooting, 1-for-5 from three.
So, last words on this game. Turnovers need to decrease. The passing and offensive fluidity needs to improve and Lillard needs to get into his groove, which I know will come. Turnovers are what concern me more. There were only a handful of offensive possessions that looked pretty and looked solid. A lot of them consisted of almost turnovers or bad passes.
Well, despite the heart-breaking nature of this defeat. It is only the third game of the season (THREE!), but Portland cannot rest too long before the revamped Cleveland Cavaliers come to town with LeBron James and Kevin Love on the roster. The Blazers have never faced Love with a good team behind him. That should be eye-opening. Obviously, Portland needs to be ready and needs to take this game by the horns. While Cleveland has looked good in stretches, Portland is still getting them early. Attack them early. I predict Lillard will break out. Kyrie Irving may be a good offensive player, but his defense is questionable to say the least. Stay tuned!