For three and a half quarters, the Warriors put together another focused and poised effort in their second game without Steph Curry. But systems collapsed late in the fourth quarter, leading to Golden State’s 125-122 loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland on Wednesday night.
The Warriors looked primed to take off for a win after using a 17-4 run to erase an 11-point deficit and take a four-point lead into halftime. But the home team rallied back in the second half to make for a tense fourth quarter.
Unhelpful to the Warriors’ cause was a four-plus-minute scoring drought late in the fourth quarter, negating a handful of stops the defense managed, including a huge block by Draymond Green at the rim. Portland pulled away.
Down seven points with 33 seconds to go, the Warriors nearly pulled within a possession with Done DiVincenzo’s 3-pointer and a forced turnover when Portland took the ball up court. But Andrew Wiggins shied away from a contested layup to find DiVincenzo, who missed an open 3 pointer.
Ultimately, inability to get to finish at the rim, some costly turnovers and poor execution led to a crunch time meltdown and the Warriors’ 21st road loss. There were some silver linings, though.
Jordan Poole had a shaky final few minutes, but finished with 38 points on 7-of-12 shooting from 3.
Klay Thompson, playing in his hometown on his 33rd birthday, went 1-of-6 from 3 in the fourth quarter. But he looked strong in the beginning of the game — shooting 7-for-19 from three with 31 points.
The newly 33-year-old is settling into his pre-injured form now more than ever, he entered the game shooting 44 percent from 3 over his last 16 games.
Wiggins continued his resurgence since his tepid return from injury a month ago. He was hungry on the boards, wrangling a handful of offensive rebounds and interrupting plays defensively. It set the tone for the Warriors’ defense that recovered from a shaky first quarter and forced 21 turnovers by the final buzzer.
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