SAN FRANCISCO – Stephen Curry led the way with 32 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Andrew Wiggins chipped in 25 points and had five rebounds to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 118-103 victory over the Portland Trailblazers tonight for their sixth straight win.
Curry’s 11 points in the second quarter, help the Warriors outscore the Trailblazers 31-18. Golden State finished on a 16-2 run taking a 58-44 lead into halftime.
By the third quarter, the Warriors extended the run to 32-12. Curry shot 12-of-25 from the floor, including 6-of-15 from three-point range. As a team, the Warriors shot a blistering 54-percent from the field (47-of-87).
Following the game, the story was about Klay Thompson, who remained on the bench for more than 20 minutes with a towel over his head.
Thompson, who was cleared for full contact this week following grueling rehabs from back-to-back injuries. First it was the torn ACL in his left knee he suffered in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, then a right Achilles tendon tear that needed repair shortly before the start of last season.
“I kind of predicted this would be the hardest part of his journey because he’s got the basketball back in his hands every day, he’s feeling like himself, he’s playing pickup and he’s around our practices and back with us in those type of situations, but he’s still not on the court,” said Curry, who along with head coach Steve Kerr and Draymond Green consoled Thompson on the bench.
“The good thing is we’re talking weeks instead of months now. I’m super proud of just the way he’s approached this two-year window because unless he wants to write a book and tell every step of the way, nobody will understand what he’s been through away from the game so long. And it shows how much this game matters to him.”
Jordan Poole added 14 points and five assists and Green finished with 12 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who improve to an NBA-best 17-2 this season. Kevon Looney scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Golden State scored dominated in the paint and outscored Portland 64-42 and outrebounded the Trailblazers 48-37. The Warriors committed 15 turnovers, leading to 22 points for Portland. Golden State scored 20 points off 10 turnovers by the Trailblazers.
The Warriors led 91-70 entering the fourth quarter before Portland climbed back into the game behind the hot scoring from swingman Anfernee Simons.
The third-year pro knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing that pulled the Trailblazers within 100-92 with 5:31 left, before Curry knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to put the game out of reach.
Simons led Portland with 19 points off the bench, drilling five three-pointers in the process.
Both Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum struggled tonight, scoring 16 points apiece.
Lillard, an Oakland native, entered tonight’s game scoring 20 or more points in nine straight games. He finished 5-of-15 from the field (2-of-7 from three-point range). McCollum shot 6-of-17 from the field (3-of-6 from three-point range) for Portland, who drop to 10-10 on the season (1-9 on the road).
Golden State held Portland to 41.9-percent from the field (36-of-86), below the Warriors’ 42-percent opponents’ shooting percentage coming into tonight’s conteCJst.
Jusuf Nurkic finished with 17 points, three assists and four rebounds. Norman Powell poured in 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Powell limped back to the locker room in the third quarter following a fall on the floor on a layup attempt and never returned.
Golden State heads to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers Sunday, while Portland travels to Utah face the Jazz on Monday.
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
