Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Warriors, playing their fifth game in eight days and the second in a row, fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 129-107 at the Moda Center in Portland. The Warriors were without the services of Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and DeMarcus Cousins.

For three quarters, it was a very entertaining game as neither team could pull away. The biggest lead the Blazers had was six points, and the best the W’s could do was five points. The Warriors finished the first quarter leading 33-31. Kevin Durant led the Warrior attack with 16 points. Oakland native Damien Lillard paced the Blazers with 13. The Blazers won the second quarter 33-28 and led by three 64-61 at the end of the first half. Durant led the Warriors with 20 in the first half. Steph Curry had 14. Draymond Green added 9, and Klay Thompson had 7. Lillard led the Blazers with 15. CJ McCollum had 9, Jusuf Nurkic 9 and Evan Turner 8.

The third quarter was more of the same. Neither team would give an inch. The Warriors managed to outscore the Blazers 34-30 and led by one point 95-94 heading into the fateful fourth quarter. Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr sent out Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, and Alfonzo McKinnie to start and that enabled Curry and Durant get some rest. The Portland bench had other ideas as they played well on defense and were able to increase the lead to nine 110-101. Jonas Jerebko made a bucket to make it 110-103. It was at this point in the contest that things went south for the Warriors. Draymond Green was called for a flagrant foul on forward Zach Collins. There was no question that it was a hard foul. However, to this observer, it was a long way from a flagrant foul. Steve Kerr went ballistic and went after the refs as he felt the call was not appropriate. There were three technicals called on Golden State. Two were on Kerr, and he had to leave the arena. Lillard made all three for Portland. Collins made his two, and the ball went back to Portland. The Blazers made a three, and they expanded the lead to 118-103. The Warriors were toast at this point. The Warriors removed the Big Three from the game, and the Blazers coasted to a 129-107 win.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors’ 11-game road winning streak came to an end. They lost for the second time in the last 18 and finished 41-16 at the break for the All-Star game. Portland improved to 34-23.

Curry and Durant finished with 32 each. No other Warrior was in double figures. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green had 9. Thompson scored two in the second half, and Green did not score at all. The Warrior bench was outscored 52-23.

The Blazers had 8 players in double figure. Lillard led the club with 29. Jake Layman, coming off the bench, had 17 for Portland. Steph’s brother, Seth, added 11 to help his Blazer team beat his brother’s Warriors.

Up Next: The Warriors are off until February 21st. They face the Sacramento Kings at Oracle. Game time will be at 7:30 pm.