Warriors vs. Trail Blazers: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
After the greatest first half of a season in NBA history, the Golden State Warriors are off to a rough start following the All-Star break, falling on Friday to the Portland Trailblazers on the road, 137-105, at the Moda Center.
Portland celebrated the victory in style on Twitter:
Damian Lillard was the star of the night for the Trail Blazers, scoring a career-high 51 points, dishing out seven assists and securing six steals, all while not turning the ball over once. It was the third straight game of 30 or more points for Lillard, per Trail Blazers PR.
J.A. Adande of ESPN summed up the reaction to Lillard's amazing night:
It wasn't all about offense as Portland denied the Warriors (now 48-5) a chance at the win with plays like this from Gerald Henderson, via the Trail Blazers:
Golden State should have known it would be a tough night when Lillard was hitting shots like this in the first quarter, per the Trail Blazers:
It looked like Stephen Curry's hot shooting early on could lead the Warriors to a victory. He finished with 31 points on 7 of 13 shooting from three-point range, including six from downtown in the first half, via the Warriors official Twitter account:
Late in the second quarter, Golden State used a 12-0 run cut a 58-40 deficit to 58-52. Their Twitter account noted it could be a sign of things to come:
However, it wasn't near enough as the Warriors still trailed at half, 68-62. A brutal third quarter is what eventually did in Golden State, as Portland won the frame 36-17 to take a 104-79 lead.
With three minutes to play in the third period, the 95 points the Trail Blazers scored were the most the Warriors had allowed through three quarters all season, per GSW Stats.
It got bad enough for Golden State that Adande wondered if head coach Steve Kerr should rest his starters, which he eventually did:
There were plenty of takes to go around on Twitter during this one, including an interesting one from Marcus Thompson of Bay Area News Group:
ESPN's Ethan Strauss noted how much fun Lillard and Portland were having with this one:
C.J. McCollum had 21 points and seven assists for the Trail Blazers while Draymond Green recorded his 20th double-double of the season for the Warriors with 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
This one loss alone is not going to mean much to Golden State in terms of the playoffs, as it still holds a multiple-game lead over the No. 2 San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference. Of course, any loss hurts on the road to breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' NBA record of 72 wins, but the Warriors are still on pace for 74 victories with the loss.
On the other hand, this victory could do a lot in terms of igniting the Trail Blazers on a run. They currently sit at 28-27 and are in battle for the final few playoff spots. With three more home games in a row before a six-game road trip, it could be just what Portland needs to get hot.
If Lillard, who became the fourth player this season with 30-plus points and five-plus assists in three straight games, keeps it up, there is no doubt Portland is going to find itself in playoffs—possibly even matched-up against Golden State in the first round.
Postgame Reaction
Following the game talk of Lillard's big night dominated headlines. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports noted how the guard's All-Star snub may have contributed to his big night:
"You won't like @Dame_Lillard when he's angry. Well @blazers fans will. #NBA All-Star snub brought underdog anger back starting with Warriors
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) February 20, 2016"
Lillard said "it was a lot of fun," and gave credit to the defense as well as the offense, via NBA.com. He can deflect to his teammates and the defense all he wants, but this night was about Lillard. In addition to the career-high points, the 25 year old was the first player to record 50-plus points, seven-plus assists and six-plus steals since the latter became a stat during the 1973-74 season, per Trail Blazers PR.
The post game questions for the Warriors focused on Lillard as well, and all Kerr could do was compare him to last year's MVP, per Joe Freeman of the Oregonian:
Kerr then focused on his team and what it did wrong in the loss, per Monte Poole of Comcast SportsNet: "I'm OK with (the) other [team making] shots. What I'm not OK with is losing our poise in the [third quarter] and making 13 turnovers."
It will be interesting to see how the Warriors bounce back from the worst loss by a defending champion since the 2006-07 season, per ESPN Stats & Info. They haven't faced much adversity this season, and how they react will go a long way in determining their character the rest of the way.
