SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors entered Monday night 12-1 when Buddy Hield scores at least 18 points. When the volatile 3-point marksman is on, Golden State is hard to beat.
When both Hield and Gary Payton II exceed 20 points? They’re world-beaters.
Hield had his best game since the opening weeks of the season, dropping 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting (six 3s) while adding seven assists. Meanwhile, a running hook shot late in the fourth quarter gave Payton a career-high of 26 points, exceeding his previous best set on the last day of the 2017-18 season with the Lakers.
Despite a scare in the third quarter, the Warriors (37-28) stiff-armed a young Portland squad that has surprised opponents in the second half. The 130-120 win gives Golden State 10 victories in its last 11 games.
Jimmy Butler logged his 18th career triple double, pushing the Warriors’ record to 12-1 with him in the lineup. Steph Curry (24 points on 5-for-11 from 3) inched within two 3-pointers of the unprecedented 4,000 mark. The Warriors shot 21-for-41 from deep overall, overcoming Deni Avdija’s efficient 34-point night.
The Warriors made six of their first eight 3-pointers against a feisty Portland defense, but the Blazers hung around by slicing to the basket.
Three blocks from Quinten Post — starting in place of Brandin Podziemski — helped clean up some breaches on the perimeter.
Golden State scored 35 points in the first quarter but only led by eight. The Blazers’ defense ranks sixth in the league over the past 15 games, spearheaded by head coach Chauncy Billups and rangy wings like Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson.
But the Warriors’ 3s kept falling, and they stretched their lead even as Curry sat. Buddy Hield hit three, Gary Payton II added four more, and Moses Moody drained a relocation trey off precise ball and player movement.
Threes are better than twos, as the Warriors have known as well as anyone for the past 16 seasons with Curry.
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Payton’s four 3s in the first half matched his career high; his 16 points off the bench helped the Warriors enter halftime with a 68-49 lead. At that point, the Warriors shot 12-for-21 from behind the arc. Portland was 5-for-18.
Even 19-point leads aren’t always safe in the modern NBA.
Portland started the second half on a 19-7 run, inching within eight as the Warriors suddenly went cold. Portland drove past Golden State’s initial level of defense consistently and kicked out for outside shots, evening out the 3-point discrepancy. Back-to-back buckets from Moody — thriving in his role as a hustle glue guy — didn’t quell the tide.
Avdija drilled a 3 to cut Golden State’s lead to six. Then Curry sprung loose in transition and stopped on a dime to use Scoot Henderson’s momentum against him for a momentum-stopping third 3 of the night.
After Payton’s seventh field goal of the game, Hield picked Anfernee Simons’ pocket and dribbled into a 3 on the other end. Curry added another 3 as two Blazers haphazardly closed out to Gui Santos in the corner, leaving him wide open.
With three minutes left in the third quarter and the Blazers still refusing to concede, Curry launched an off-balanced 27 footer over two defenders. It was the kind of shot only he’d even dare to take, let alone sink.
Hield and Payton each crossed the 20-point mark early in the fourth, with Payton slamming home an alley-oop to bring the Chase Center crowd to its feet. Just like that, the bench put the game away in three minutes with Curry resting.
In Golden State’s current hot streak, they’ve won several games they probably would’ve lost earlier in the season, before Butler arrived. This may have been a backbreaking one, the type of loss that depletes a team.
Instead, the Warriors keep rolling.
