Portland Trail Blazers battle NBA-best Golden State Warriors
By Ryan Allison
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. PST the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Golden State Warriors. The Trail Blazers won in decisive fashion last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home and will try to win the second game of this back-to-back set. The Warriors are on a rare two-game losing streak but return home where they are an NBA-best 35-2, winning their last 15 games at Oracle Arena. The game will be broadcast on TNT. Rip City Radio 620 AM will have the local radio call.
The rest provided to Aldridge, Batum, and Chris Kaman on Monday seemed to be exactly what the Trail Blazers needed. The team executed from the start to finish last night against the Timberwolves. Sure you could argue that the Timberwolves are one of the worst teams in the NBA, but the Trail Blazers were clicking on all cylinders. The passing, the shooting, the rebounding had the Trail Blazers looking like they did at the start of the season.
Now is the perfect time to be finding rhythm and groove as the playoffs are quickly approaching. The Trail Blazers enter the second game of a back-to-back confident and ready to face the challenges ahead. Immediately in front of them stand the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors have an NBA-best overall record which coincides with their incredible home record.
Over the last two games, the Warriors have looked vulnerable, losing two road games against motivated teams. On Sunday, the Spurs held the Warriors to their lowest point total since early February. Tuesday the Warriors faced a Pelicans team fighting for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Those games have the Warriors with their first losing streak since late January. The Warriors have not lost three in a row since November 2013 and returning to Oracle will likely snap them out of this mini-slump.
During the current 15 game home winning streak, the Warriors have defeated teams by an average of 14.2 points. The Trail Blazers will need to have the same balanced attack from last night spill over into tonight’s game. The most important aspect for the Trail Blazers will be defense. They allowed the Warriors to shoot a season-best 60.2 percent from the field in their last matchup a few weeks ago. In that game, the Warriors also dished out 37 assists.
The last meeting between these teams was really much more competitive then the box score will tell you. The Warriors won 122-108 yet the Trail Blazers held a 62-57 halftime lead. The problem for the Trail Blazers came when they allowed the Warriors to have runs of 11-0 and 9-0 in the third quarter. Lillard was forced to hold the team together as Aldridge, Batum, and Kaman all sat out of that game. Tonight the Trail Blazers will be at full strength and the consistency will hopefully follow.
This is the first and only regular season visit to Oracle Arena for the Trail Blazers. The key to victory starts with the two All-Stars. Aldridge has averaged 24.4 points and 14.4 rebounds in his last five matchups with the Warriors. He is coming off a 24-point and 13-rebound game last night and the offense needs to be run through him. Lillard’s contributions need to come on the defensive side of the ball. Curry is averaging 35.2 points in his last five matchups with Portland, which includes shooting 50.0 percent from behind the arc (24-48). Lillard needs to find a way to stay on Curry and force him into uncomfortable situations.