Spend enough time in Golden State Warriors
world, and you’ll hear a line about how many scorers they have.
Coach Mark Jackson dropped it before his team took on Portland.
Wednesday night turned out to be one of those games that fuels such
talk. Point guard Stephen Curry had a game-high 32 points on
12-for-19 shooting as the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers, 101-93.
The Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak and got their first
win against a Western Conference opponent.
Spend enough time in Golden State Warriors world, and you’ll hear a line about how many scorers they have. Coach Mark Jackson dropped it before his team took on Portland.
Wednesday night turned out to be one of those games that fuels such talk. Point guard Stephen Curry had a game-high 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting as the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers, 101-93. The Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak and got their first win against a Western Conference opponent.
Forward David Lee put in 26 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Swingman Brandon Rush threw in 14 points off the bench.
The Warriors offense, which shot 51.9 percent, was clicking well enough against the Blazers that guard Monta Ellis didn’t even need to score. He finished with four points on 2-for-9 shooting. But he had 12 assists, eight in the second half.
The Warriors are hardly an offensive juggernaut these days, so such a scoring performance isn’t the norm. Golden State came into Wednesday’s game 13th in the league in scoring (95.3) and eighth in field goal percentage (45.6 percent). Not bad, but certainly not the dominant offensive squad of yesteryear.
“We have no problems scoring,” Jackson said. “We haven’t lost games because we couldn’t score. You look at the games we lost, we stopped defending. So we’re fooling ourselves if we believe it’s because of size or anything else.”
The Warriors didn’t lose the game on defense Wednesday, although it appeared they might. The Blazers made half their shots in the second quarter en route to a 53-48 lead. Plus, Golden State was getting hurt on the boards, as six offensive rebounds by Portland led to an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points.
But in the second half, Golden State tightened up on defense. Portland scored just 40 points after halftime – which is one point more than Memphis scored in the fourth quarter Monday. In the end, the Blazers shot 41 percent.
That’s certainly a solid defensive effort by Warriors’ standards. Golden State entered Wednesday ranked 25th in points allowed per game (98.9). But in field goal percentage defense, arguably a better barometer of a good defensive team, the Warriors ranked 21st in the league (45.1 percent).
Golden State was dominated on the boards Wednesday. Led by center Marcus Camby’s game-high 16 rebounds, the Blazers at one point had Golden State doubled up in total rebounds, finishing with a 43-30 advantage.
But Golden State offset the damage by with the long ball. The Warriors made a season-high 11 3-pointers. Curry nailed six. Rush made three. Thanks to their offensive showing, they didn’t need a stellar defensive performance. Just a pretty good one. And they got it.
“We’ve had some breakdowns defensively, but we’re getting there,” center Andris Biedrins said before the game. “It won’t change in one week. I think we have to play more games to get it more consistent. … It just takes time.”
Golden State took control of the game in the third quarter. More accurately, Curry took control.
Curry kept finding himself open, knocking down four 3-pointers in the quarter. He put up 16 in the third, helping Golden State make 12 of 19 from the field. Curry also had three assists and two steals in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ defense picked it up, too. Portland missed 14 of its 20 attempts in the third and turned it over five times.
Curry started a run with a 3-pointer, putting the Warriors up 72-70. He then capped the spurt by connecting with forward Dorell Wright on a length-of-the-court pass for a breakaway layup. The Warriors, who had been down by as much as 10, entered the fourth quarter up 79-73.
In the fourth quarter, it was Lee’s turn. He scored 10 of the Warriors’ first 12 points of the quarter.
– Warriors swingman Klay Thompson seems to have the swag back in his game. Working with the second unit, the rookie out of Washington State has shown an ability to give the Warriors quick offense. His outside shot is starting to fall as expected.
Thompson entered Wednesday’s game averaging 10.3 points over the previous four contests. He shot 51.6 percent during that stretch, including 9 for 15 from 3-point range.
That’s a far cry from the gun-shy rookie who started 6-for-20 from the field over his first five games.
“He’s much more confident, for whatever reason,” Jackson said. “I thought early on in the season, he turned down shots. … I told him, ‘Reggie Miller would never shake his head missing a shot.'”
