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The Warriors headed up to Portland on Friday night to face the rebuilding Trailblazers for the first time this season.
First Quarter
Score after the quarter: 38-21
The Warriors, coming off of two days rest, looked spry and efficient in the first. Lead by Klay Thompson's automatic shooting, going for 19 pts on 5-5 from behind the arc. Klay was automatic from any distance, slowly taking shots from farther and farther out. He capped the quarter off with a fantastic full court drive to hit the mid range at the buzzer.
Steph in the back doing DB drills https://t.co/VEfPuRlCGD
— John Middlekauff (@JohnMiddlekauff) January 9, 2016
It didn't help that Portland was ice cold from the field, but still managed to put up 21 after Damian Lillard finally started finding his shot. Give it to the Warriors for pushing the pressure to start the game while Portland was still waking up, getting out to a large lead. Portland would take advantage of the second unit, as Mo Speights had a rough quarter behind a few turnovers and bad defense.
Running off the miss on @CSNAuthentic. Sweet dish from @Money23Green #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/YYzgbnI2U5
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 9, 2016
Second Quarter
Score after the Quarter: 74-52
Portland would come out with good pressure to start the second as the Warriors second unit was looking to get in their groove. Give it to Portland - they have a lot of young talent in Allen Crabbe and C.J. McCollum along with an athletic young front court that will give the Trailblazers a good core for years. Right now, these players are still finding their consistency and the ability to play better defense. But they can definitely score. The Blazers would get the lead in single digits after a 10-2 run while there was no rim protector in the game, allowing Blazers guards to drive in the lane with little distraction.
Once Draymond Green entered back in the game, the Warriors cleaned up the ball and started back in control. Getting a balanced scoring attack from Ian Clark, Brandon Rush and the faciliataion of Draymond Green. This unit was fascinating - Dray at the 5 playing point center, Rush and Barnes at the wings. Incredibly athletic taking advantage of small ball. Guessing this lineup in the future could be the same, but with Ezeli paired up with the wings and Iguodala handing more of the ball.
Mid 2Q: #Warriors 57, #Blazers 41. @KlayThompson has 21 pts. In 15 minutes of playing time, @Money23Green already is plus-25.
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleCSN) January 9, 2016
As the quarter wore on and the starters slowly came back in, you could tell this was going to be another dirty work-Draymond Green night. His passing, his scoring, his defense - all relentless. He truly is the heartbeat of this team #VoteDraymond. The Warriors would slowly build up a 24 point lead to end the half behind fantastic team basketball and suffocating defense.
#Warriors 74, Blazers 52 (half) Thompson 24 pts/3 reb/3 ast, Curry 13 pts/6 ast/3 reb, Rush 10 pts, Green 9 pts/8 reb/3 ast; Lillard 20 pts.
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) January 9, 2016
.@KlayThompson lobs to Bogut on CSNBA. #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/lmAK2pglZt
Third Quarter
Score after the quarter: 106-87
Portland would outscore the Warriors in the 3rd 35-32, as both teams heated up in their own right. The Blazers started the quarter with a 13-4 run to get the lead to 13. We were blessed with the highlight of the night to break the run:
Curry did WUT https://t.co/CqE6tEIPmB
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) January 9, 2016
Brandon Rush played one of his best, most complete games of the season on Friday. He has started to find his aggression to the basket back. Once Rush gets his confidence with his drive to match his confidence with his shot, his offense will once again match his fantastic defense. He would put in a season high 20 points on the night, most impressively on 8-9 shooting from the field (4-4 from three).
The Blazers would do most of their damage from behind the arc, with the Portland starters bombing away to try to keep the game close. The problem? Curry countered back with some hot shooting of his own to keep the home crowd silent. Loved the Lillard-Curry battle at the end of the quarter. Dame puts Curry on skates, Curry takes it personal and scores the last five.
Curry had 13 in the quarter, 26 for the game, GSW 106 Portland 87 end of 3.Klay has 32
— Tim Roye (@warriorsvox) January 9, 2016
Fourth Quarter
Score to finish: 128-108
The last quarter was garbage time on the way to the solid Warriors victory. The only questions starting the quarter were if Curry would enter back in the game, and would Dray get the chance for another triple double?
Steph Curry left the bench and now is in the tunnel biking.
— Rosalyn Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) January 9, 2016
Draymond gets his 8th triple double of the year on a Klay fader
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) January 9, 2016
Draymond Green has his eighth triple-double of the season, the most by a Warrior in a single season since Tom Gola had nine in 1959-60.
— GSWStats (@gswstats) January 9, 2016
We can't overlook Lillard dropping 40 points on the Warriors for the Blazers. Dame, the bay area native, loves playing against the Warriors and always seems to find ways to show up for the matchup. It was nice to see Festus get some game play at the end of the night. The goal of garbage time is to extend out the roster and get the back end of the rotation some play. The Warriors have the curse of depth at this point, which is ironic because as of a week ago, they were begging for bodies at home in overtime.
Final Thoughts
Great win on the road on the front end of the back-to-back. The game did everything the team wanted - protect the starters, expand out the bench and get a balanced attack, and control the Blazers defensively for most of the game. The Warriors jump on a plane after the game to head to Sacramento for a tough match up against the pesky Kings at home. Will Boogie get kicked out again? Will the Warriors have the energy left?hot sho