Portland Trail Blazers center Deandrye Ayton (center) battles with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (right) at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Sat Dec 23, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Golden State Warriors (15-14) beat the Portland Trail Blazers (7-21) Saturday night 126-106 at Chase Center in San Francisco. Once again the reserves closed out this game. Guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had terrific showings as they won their fifth game in a row and their eighth straight home game.

After beating the Washington Wizards Friday night, the Warriors were back at work Saturday night taking on the Blazers and picked up their fifth win in a row. The Warriors are still without Andrew Wiggins missing his second game. The Trail Blazers are, much like the Wizards, trying to figure the season out struggling along the way. 

The game Saturday night was similar to the Warriors start Friday night. It was not at all what they wanted to see and despite shooting at 57 % they trailed 28-19 with under two minutes left in the first quarter. 

They had seemed to have resolved the turnover problem lately but in this game they already had nine in the first 12 minutes. Portland led after one quarter 30-23 and the Warriors were lucky that the deficit was not a whole lot worse. 

It was a terrible start for Golden State with the turnovers. It was the 15 rebounds that saved them from being even further behind the eight ball. They needed to pick it up on both ends of the ball in the second quarter.

Golden State went on a 13-3 run and this was a one point game 34-33 in favor of the Warriors. They had turned this game in a completely different direction. After being 11 down, the Warriors led 42-39 with under five minutes left in the half. 

This game had taken a 20 point swing in the closing minutes of the second quarter. They took a 57-46 lead going into the locker room after a brilliant quarter with the reserves coming up big. They did clean up the turnovers committing only four with a running total of 13. 

The Warriors took their largest lead of the game mid-way through the third quarter as the Splash Brothers really took charge 77-63. At 5:20 Curry and Thompson each had scored 23 points. Golden State only had two turnovers in the third quarter both of them coming because of eight second violations. The Warriors were looking for their eighth straight home win closing out the quarter leading 89-77.

Two minutes into the final quarter the Warriors had a 19 point lead. Portland continued to threaten throughout the fourth quarter but Golden State answered every time. 

The Trail Blazers could not keep up with the Warriors as Golden State matched them point for point and then some. The reserves once again closed out this game as the starters took the bench for the remainder of the game. Portland has some really scrappy young players but they came up short against the experience and skill of the Warriors. 

Thompson had the high for the Warriors with 28 points closely followed by Curry with 27. Bradin Podziemski finished with 15 points and bench player Trayce Jackson-Davis continues to impress with 13 points and five rebounds. 

They will need a lot of fire power as they travel to Denver on Christmas Day taking on the Nuggets. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 11:30 AM.