The game between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers was always going to be an enjoyable, high scoring affair, and didn’t disappoint. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson caught fire at the right time, while Nicolas Batum was the opposite of clutch, missing a crucila free throw that could have sent the game into overtime.
Despite being down by 18 points in the first half, the Warriors made the most of the slipping form the Blazers are in, winning 113-112. Stephen Curry led the way with a big 37 points, a game he had coming after some quiet performances over the last couple of weeks, hitting six shots from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson followed with 27 points, including a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in the game to bring the Warriors from one point down to victory, before Batum messed up his chance.
This was the sixth time this season the Warriors have come back to win in a game they’ve been down by 15 points or more. The Blazers, Suns and Rockets follow with four such comebacks, but few teams have the ability to start scoring out of nowhere thanks to the splash brothers.
However, when the Warriors have to rely on Curry and Thompson to save the day it usually means it wasn’t the greatest of performances. Andre Iguodala was once again hardly involved in the offensive game with only 4 points (2-of-5 from the field), and the Warriors had only 17 assists on their 42 field goals. This wasn’t the right way of playing basketball, but they had just about enough offense (not a lot of defense throughout the game) to pull through against a team missing their best player.
Without LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers’ chance of turning the tide they’ve been recently caught on wasn’t great. Yes, they have a special home crowd who gets loud when they need it to, but a team that relies so heavliy on 3-point shooting is bound to be disappointed and misfire from time to time. The Warriors have that about them to, only with a much better defense and interior presence.
Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 26 points, and Nicolas Batum did a good job in filling in for the points Aldridge was leaving off the court with 23, but he missed just once from the line, turning out to be the most crucial miss of all. Lillard did a great job of keeping the ball in play, but Batum made another bad decision of trying to fix things on his own instead of dumping the ball to the side, where a wide open Mo Williams was waiting to shoot a three. Williams, scoring 12 points, was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc in the game.
A big road win for the Warriors who get closer to the Blazers, which also means a chance to maybe, just maybe, get hot enough in the final month of the season and find themselves with home court advantage for one round. However, the Warriors haven’t been consistent with their basketball (not the results) recently. It’s great to see Curry shooting lights out again, but the road to success goes through the rest of his teammates, not just his point production.