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Trail Blazers beat Warriors, 125-108, stretch win streak to nine games

PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 9: Zach Collins
PORTLAND, OR - MARCH 9: Zach Collins

All four teams atop the Western Conference entered Friday riding long winning streaks. Only one kept their streak intact – the Portland Trail Blazers, who won their ninth in a row.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 125-108, Friday, extending their winning streak to nine games and taking the season series against the defending champs two games to one.

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Warriors vs. Trail Blazers

The Trail Blazers’ (40-26) winning streak actually began on Valentine’s Day with a win against this same Golden State Warriors team. Well, not exactly the same team. The Warriors had Steph Curry in that first meeting; this time, he missed the game with a bum ankle.

Here are the highlights from the latest biggest win of the season.

FIRST HALF

The Blazers were super active on the boards from the opening tip. They would outrebound the Warriors 46-33 in the game.

And Damian Lillard was off and running, too, showing no signs yet that ol’ man Law of Averages was gonna catch up to him.

It was a swiftly moving first quarter, but the Trail Blazers had the lead after one.

For the bulk of the first half, the Trail Blazers outplayed the Warriors. Young Zach Collins was especially impressive (again). He would finish with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

The Warriors seemed to wake up a bit in the second quarter, especially Draymond Green who was pretty much a nonentity in the first. He would finish the game with just seven points to go along with 12 rebounds and six assists.

The Blazers reasserted some control and went to halftime on a 9-2 scoring run to take a 61-52 lead.

SECOND HALF

The Blazers’ shooting cooled off a bit, and Kevin Durant stayed hot; he would finish with 40 points on 12-for-21 shooting, plus six assists and six rebounds.

Still, Portland maintained the lead. They were helped by some nifty interior passing.

The Warriors took the lead on a Durant three, 75-73, with 4:35 left in the third.

And at this point, we started to worry (unnecessarily) about foul trouble late in the third.

Despite Durant’s hot shooting, the Blazers were still ahead after three.

The Blazers kept pushing in the fourth quarter.

And this was very satisfying.

Ed Davis was his usual active self.

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And the Blazers pulled away at the end of the fourth to beat the Warriors for the second time in three tries this season.

Final score: Trail Blazers 125, Warriors 108.

Next up for Portland: Monday against the Miami Heat at the Moda Center (7:30 p.m. PST tip).