Preview: Warriors head to Portland to face depleted Blazers

This isn’t the Portland Trail Blazers team that I came to know and love from afar during the Golden State Warriors’ dynastic run. The Blazers used to have an undersized and plucky backcourt led by All-Stars Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, with a bruising center named Jusuf Nurkic banging in the paint. That was their Big 3 and the driving force behind the team making the 2019 Western Conference Finals before the Warriors swept them out.

Now? McCollum has been shipped out to New Orleans, Lillard is recovering from abdominal surgery in January, and Nurkic is going to miss time per NBA.com:

And now, with 23 games left to play in the regular season, the Trail Blazers are going through more changes, resulting in the team looking considerably different, once again, after the All-Star break than they did before it.

First and foremost, the team announced on Wednesday that Jusuf Nurkic, the only player who started on Opening Night who was still in the starting lineup prior to the All-Star break, will be sidelined for at least the next four weeks due to flare up of plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

Rip City will also be without Eric Bledsoe because of an Achilles’ issue,

Not good. Their opponent Thursday night is the Warriors, who look different in a positive way. The Splash Bros are back, with Stephen Curry dominating the All-Star game and Klay Thompson steadily regaining the form that made him arguably the 77th greatest NBA player of all time. They are missing their men in the middle Draymond Green and James Wiseman though.

Golden State won the first two matchups between the two teams this season by double-digits, and to keep that streak going they’ll have to keep tabs on Portland guard Anfernee Simons. He’s averaging 22.6 PPG over his last 10 games and is absolutely fearless.

Golden State Warriors @ Portland Trail Blazers

February 24th, 2022 | 7:00 PT

Watch: TNT, NBC Sports Bay Area | Listen: 95.7 The Game