Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Portland Trail Blazers’ backcourt duo of Damien Lillard and C.J.McCollum combined for 58 points and beat the Warriors 125-108 at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Friday night.

The Warriors, coming off a tough win over San Antonio Thursday night, were led by Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson and nobody else. The Warriors were without Steph Curry, David West, Andre Iguodala, Jordan Bell, and Patrick McCaw.

The Warriors trailed for all of the first half. The Blazers led by six after the first 12 minutes of play and increased the lead to nine (61-52) when they went on a 9-2 run to end the second quarter. The Warriors took the lead 75-73 midway through the third quarter, but the Blazers finished the period on a 10-0 run to finish with a four-point advantage 87-83 and had momentum on their side heading into the final 12 minutes of action.

The Blazers’ Lillard and McCollum were lights out in the final stanza. The Blazers outscored the Warriors by 13 to blow out the Warriors by 17 points (125-108).

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson led the Warrior attack with 40 and 25 points each. The only other Warrior in double figures was JaVale McGee with 10. Draymond Green had 7, and Quinn Cook added 8. The Warrior contributed just 18 points.

The Blazers’ bench, on the other hand, had four players in double figures and recorded 45 points in the win.The Blazers had a total of seven players in double figures. McCollum led the club with 30 and Lillard had 28.

Klay recorded his 200th 3-pointer of the season early in the game. Draymond Green picked up his 15th technical foul of the year, and if he gets one more, he will receive an automatic one-game suspension.

The Warriors were outshot 89-78, and Portland made six more buckets than the Warriors. The Warriors shot 48.7% from the floor while Portland shot 49.4%.

The Warriors were outrebounded 46-33, and they recorded just 20 assists.

The Warriors turned the ball over 12 times, but they did not have the firepower to keep pace with the Blazers.

The Blazers won their ninth in a row and snapped the Warriors win streak at seven. The Warriors are now 51-15 and trail the Houston Rockets by half a game in the race for best record in the NBA.

After the game, Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr commented about the team’s performance: “We’ve got a deep team. That’s one of the hallmarks of our group the last few years,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “We’ve played without Steph, I think probably 15 times this year, or so, and we’ve gotten to know the formula. We know what to do. It’s a different game, but we’ve got to defend and take care of the ball, play a really solid game against a team that’s on fire.”

Up Next: The Warriors meet the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday in Minneapolis at 12:30 pm PT.