OAKLAND -- While the Portland Trail Blazers look as though they're ready for the start of the regular season, perhaps they're not yet to the point where they can truly challenge the reigning Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, at least at Oracle Arena. Though they came firing in the first quarter, building an early 16-point lead in the first quarter, the Trail Blazers weren’t able to contain both Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant for long, with the MVP duo combining to score 63 points to lead Golden State to a 107-96 victory in the final preseason game for both teams.
"For the most part, in the first half, it was a really good basketball game," said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. "The understatement is the game got away from us in the third quarter. They got hot, we didn't necessarily execute that well offensively in the third quarter. We missed some looks that would have kind of kept it close, maybe change the momentum a little bit."With the loss, the Trail Blazers finish the preseason with a 4-3 record.
The Trail Blazers gave the Warriors a taste of their own medicine early in Friday night’s game, jumping out to a 22-6 lead after the first five minutes of play thanks to making 10 of their first 13 shots. But the Warriors would outscore the Blazers 31-10 in the final five minutes of the first to cut Portland’s lead to 37-32 by the start of the second quarter. Portland managed to slow the bleeding in the second despite shooting just 37 percent from the field and 1-of-5 from three in the quarter. But the Warriors, specifically Durant, would put the screws to the road team in the third quarter. The 2015 MVP scored 14 of his 26 points to start the third after Curry, the 2016 MVP, put up 28 in the first half. The outburst, along with stifling defense that help Portland to just 16 points in the third quarter, would give the Warriors their largest lead of the night at 21.
"Similar to last year, (Golden State) can explode on you, they can get hot," said Lillard. "Now having KD out there, when they go with that lineup with Draymond (Green) at the five and KG at the four, it's a real problem because you've got five guys out there running around that can catch it from deep and get hot on you. They set screens well, they move well without the ball, so it's tough to guard. I think when they started getting stops we stopped moving the ball like we were to begin the game and they took advantage of it. They got out in transition, they're screening for each other, they hit a couple shots, then they started making tough ones and got away from us a little bit."
With the game all but out of reach, Terry Stotts, as he’s done all preseason, looked to his end-of-the-bench lineup midway through the fourth to finish out the evening, including rookie guard Tim Quarterman, who won the 15th and final roster spot after Grant Jerrett and Greg Stiemsma were waived following the game. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr would do the same a few minutes later, resulting in the 11-point margin of victory. The Blazers were led by Damian Lillard, who went 7-of-15 from the field to finish with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes. CJ McCollum went 7-of-18 to 16 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds. Meyers Leonard played the final 16 minutes of the game to finish with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
All in all, the Trail Blazers said they were satisfied with their play in preseason despite ending on a losing note. But preseason is much more about improving that wins and losses, and in that regard, the Trail Blazers have reason to be optimistic going forward.
"I thought we had a good preseason," said Lillard. "We had some rough spots in some games and tonight we let a great team go on a huge run on us, but I think for the most part, we were consistent. We kept working, we never had those times where we just kind of died. We kept fighting even through the tough times in games, and the great times, we did what we were trying to do in camp the entire time. I think it was a productive preseason, I think we got better over the course of the preseason and I think we're ready for the real thing."The real thing starts on Tuesday when the Trail Blazers return to the Moda Center to host the Utah Jazz in their regular season opener. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm.