Warriors Drop Another One To Portland

Seems like the Warriors are a good punching bag for those teams who need an extra win to climb the standings in a tight playoff race. The Trailblazers decided they want to keep that pattern continuing. In the first half of April, the Warriors are a mere 2-7, with wins against Minnesota and Dallas. They looked great those nights. And nights that they lost, some of them they look awful, while others they looked like, “if we had one more piece.” Too many times, the Warriors expend too much energy in trying to get back into a game where it is out of reach. And by the time they do have the game close or tied, they just don’t have the extra edge to push over, sustain and come out with a win. Last night was no exception

After getting a beat down by Denver, only a day after beating them, the Warriors again, got pounded on. This time, they were down by 15 at one point, but crawled back to tie the game at 95 with 6:20 left in the game. They even went up by one, when Brandon Rush made a free throw. But that was it. The Trailblazers controlled the last six minutes. The Warriors closed the gap by three when Klay Thompson made a three to make it 109-106.

But it was too much Jamal Crawford. The veteran guard, who has been quiet and less effective in Portland compared to Atlanta, stepped up with their All-Star, LaMarcus Aldridge, on the DL. He finished the night with 34 points coming off the bench. Could you imagine a bench player like that? Oh right, he was on the Warriors team at one point, but they mis-used him, didn’t surround him with better players and he bolted (traded) once he got the chance. Then in ATL he flourished and here we are again. The Warriors have another player to come back and haunt them.

David Lee continues ( I know I say this every game, but who else is playing well?) his torrid pace with 21 points, 14 boards and six assists. Nate Robinson has returned nicely with 19 points and eight assists. Richard Jefferson continues his old man role and had 15 points. Brandon Rush continues to prove he can play among the best of the best and had 13 points to along with five boards. Klay Thompson had a quiet night with 12 points and four boards.

Overall in the statistic game, the Warriors played pretty well. They outscored the Trailblazers 60-48 in the paint. They shot 52% from the field and 50% behind the three. They shot 73% from the strip but only got there 11 times compared to 28 times the Trailblazers got there. They also had 27 assists to the 17 the Blazers dished out.

The Warriors played a good game so to speak statistically, but were never really in the game. They made it close, tied it, but couldn’t get over the hump and ultimately their defense let them down. Back to back buckets really killed  the momentum they had and they couldn’t charge with another comeback.