NBA: Portland Trail Blazers at Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are in unfamiliar territory as they are riding a two game losing streak. They’ll look to break out of this mini slump but it won’t be easy against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers are trying to keep up with the Clippers and Grizzlies, Rockets and Spurs as they have their focus set on the second seed. As the winner of the Northwest Division, they cannot slip any further than the fourth seed. The Dubs will be at full strength to attempt to get back into the win column.

1st Quarter

The Warriors got off to a hot start. Andrew Bogut hit the game’s first bucket and Steph Curry sinked back to back triples to give the Warriors an 8-2 lead. It wasn’t only Curry, the rest of the starters chipped in as well. Bogut had some nice dunks and Klay Thompson got on the board early. The Blazers were scoring, but couldn’t keep up with the Dubs. Curry hit another triple and the lead was back up to eight, but the Blazers went on a little run of their own. After a pair of LaMarcus Aldridge free throws and a CJ McCollum jumper, the lead had dwindled to two. A Speights jumper got it back to four, but back to back baskets from Chris Kaman tied the game at 27. Curry ended the quarter with a three, which tied his own record of 272 in a season.

2nd Quarter

The game slowed down a bit at the start of the second quarter. They traded baskets and the Warriors maintained a three point lead. Thompson came in early and hit a bucket, which he was hoping would get him out of this slump. The Blazers went on a 8-0 run and the Warriors went cold. Portland now had the lead, 42-34. Kerr then brought back all his starters. The Blazers were now in control and they pushed the lead to 11 after the timeout. Damian Lillard was feeling it and he hit a 20 footer to give the Blazers a 12 point lead. Curry responded with a record breaking three and less than a minute later he did it again. It was now a seven point game. Aldridge hit a triple and Thompson hit one too to make it a five point deficit. Thompson finally looked like he was playing with confidence. A couple more buckets from Thompson and Curry gave the Warriors a 57-54 lead.

3rd Quarter

The Warriors got off to an amazing start in the third. They went on a 10-2 run to give the Warriors an 11 point lead. It took about two minutes and a half and the crowd was on their feet and extremely loud. This game was getting out of hand for Portland, but they responded with a 12-2 run and it was a one point game. Portland took the life out of Oracle Arena and Aldridge was leading the charge. The scoring picked up from both teams, but it was the Blazers who were in control. Aldridge hit seven in a row and back to back buckets from McCollum gave the Blazers a one point lead. Steve Blake chipped in with a triple, but Draymond finished the quarter with an offensive rebound and a basket to tie the game at 84.

4th Quarter

The second unit was in the game and Livingston and Iguodala were leading the charge. The offense stalled for both teams, but that’s with most key players on the bench. All the starters returned for both teams and the scoring picked up. The Warriors had a two point lead, but the Blazers went up with a Batum two pointer. Klay Thompson and Curry hit a triple each to give the Warriors a five point lead. The Blazers needed this win for home court advantage, so they were fighting for the win and the lead would not get bigger than five. After an Aldridge bucket and Warrior turnover cut the lead to one. Steph Curry then went on to take over the game and put the team on his back. He finished with 45 points and the Warriors won 116-105.