PORTLAND – Steph Curry nailed improbable shot after improbable shot on Friday night, but his expected excellence was not enough to overcome an inspired Blazers team that had spent the past 48 hours mired in controversy.
The Blazers were led by acting head coach Tiago Splitter, who stepped into the role after Chauncey Billups was arrested on illegal gambling charges by the FBI on Thursday.
The Blazers scorched the nets at the Moda Center, shooting 53.8% from the field. Curry scored a scintillating 35 points after scoring 42 the day before, but the rest of a mix-and-match Warriors lineup looked flat by comparison. Golden State lost its first game of the season, 139-119, to fall to 2-1.
Without Al Horford in the lineup, the Warriors tried out a variety of lineups, many of which had limited effectiveness. Aside from Curry and Jonathan Kuminga (16 points), the Warriors flailed against a fired up Portland outfit.
Deni Avdija scored a team-high 26 for Portland as all five Blazer starters hit double-figures. After trimming a 17-point third quarter deficit to 12 to start the fourth quarter, Kerr sent the starters back out to begin the fourth quarter.
The Warriors proceeded to commit three turnovers in the first minute of play, and the Blazers retook control. Kerr sent in the bench unit shortly thereafter. Portland’s Chinese phenom Hansen Yang even got a few minutes, dunking once and blocking a couple shots.
The turnovers that plagued Golden State in the preseason re-appeared after a clean game against the Nuggets. Golden State had 25 giveaways, helping the young Blazers score 30 fastbreak points.
The Warriors will have two days off before taking on Memphis in San Francisco on Monday.
Warriors go big
The Warriors entered Friday coming off a 137-131 overtime victory over the Nuggets, the first leg of the first of the Warriors’ 15 back-to-back games this season.
Sticking to the mantra he has repeated sincl Horford officially joined the team during training camp, Kerr had the 39-year-old big sit out the second leg. Quinten Post earned his first start of the season, and Trayce Jackson-Davis saw his first minutes of the season at center later in the quarter.
Post, known for a 3-point shot he made at 40.8% last season, made his biggest impact against Donovan Clingan on the offensive glass, grabbing three boards. But neither Post nor Jackson-Davis made much impact as a scorer, scoring a combined 11 points in 33 minutes while not providing much rim protection.
The Warriors also trotted out Jimmy Butler and Gui Santos at the five.
Mixing and matching lineups
Horford’s absence and the team’s desire to preserve the legs of the Warriors’ other millennial vets resulted in some truly strange lineups.
Twelve different Warriors saw playing time in the first half alone, and the team ended the frame with Butler playing center while surrounded by Will Richard, Moses Moody, Pat Spencer and Brandin Podziemski.
Podziemski, Buddy Hield and Richard shared the backcourt in another one while Green and Kuminga moved into the frontcourt. In the fourth quarter, Santos entered the game, meaning that every player on the Warriors roster played in Oregon.
Blazers scorching from distance
Regardless of the lineup the Warriors threw on the court, not a single combination seemed capable of keeping the Blazers from getting shots up from behind the arc.
In the second quarter, the Blazers shot a scorching 9 of 11 from 3-point range. Avdija capped off the incendiary 12 minutes by splashing his fourth trey of the half to give the Blazers a 69-56 halftime lead.
Portland finished the night 16-34 from behind the arc
Moody makes his season debut
Moses Moody missed the first two games of the season with a calf injury, leaving the Warriors without their top point-of-attack defender.
He looked comfortable driving into the teeth of the Portland defense while scoring seven points, with one of the two first quarter drives resulting in free throws. He played the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter, which put him in the ballpark of the 20 total minutes that Kerr desired from the shooting guard.
In those minutes, Moody looked spry, even attempting a dunk on the 7-2 Clingan.
Kuminga’s highlight reel
Both Kerr and Kuminga have emphasized the fifth-year forward’s commitment to doing the little things, such as rebounding and hitting the open man.
He did that in Portland while starting for the third time, grabbing eight rebounds and nabbing two steals. But he also made his mark as a scorer with three spectacular dunks.
He drew gasps from a hostile crowd when he baptized Clingan with a poster dunk in the second quarter, got cheers from Kerr when he cut hard for another dunk in transition, and rose above the fray for a putback in the third quarter.