Slow and sloppy for three quarters, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors finally came to life in the fourth quarter on Thursday night.
Playing against one of the NBA’s worst teams, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Warriors looked lost until the end, when Curry found his energy and lifted the Warriors to a 100-92 win.
It moved the Warriors one step ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference. If the Warriors can win their final two games and the Sacramento Kings lose at least one, the Warriors could get as high as the No. 8 seed.
Curry’s heroics on Thursday also ensured the “Road Warriors” finished their away portion of the regular season schedule with a remarkable 25-16 record on the road, including 17 wins in their last 21 games away from Chase Center.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr opted to play without Draymond Green (bruised knee), Klay Thompson (calf tightness) and Gary Payton II (calf tightness), resting some of his best players against a Trail Blazers (21-58) squad that didn’t expect to be much of a threat. All three players are expected to play on Friday, Kerr told reporters in Portland.
Without them, Kerr went with a lineup of Curry, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins.
The first quarter was all about Jackson-Davis, as the rookie big man was a stat-stuffer at both ends of the floor, clogging the paint and making things difficult for Portland to get inside. But on offense, the Warriors couldn’t find a rhythm.
They committed five turnovers in the first four minutes of the game and the Trail Blazers capitalized, a theme throughout the night. At one point the Trailblazers had 15 points off turnovers to the Warriors’ zero.
It wasn’t until Brandin Podziemski checked in midway through the first that they started to find a rhythm. He locked down a precious defensive rebound and took it the other way, then split two defenders with a slippery pass to feed Kuminga for a slam. On the next possession, he found space inside and scored on a layup to complete a 14-2 run as the Warriors finished the quarter with a 24-22 lead.
After a tightly contested second quarter, the Warriors shot the ball well enough to get into halftime with a 49-46 lead, despite having 15 fewer field goal attempts while getting dominated by Portland in offensive rebounds.
The Warriors were badly beaten in offensive rebounds, 20-10 on the night, and with 9:09 left to play they found themselves trailing, 85-79.
For the next 6 minutes, 37 seconds, the Trail Blazers didn’t hit a single field goal. Kevon Looney took over for Jackson-Davis and finally put a stop to all Portland’s second-chance opportunities. And Curry pulled it all together with his typical fourth-quarter dominance.
At one point, Curry, Looney and Podziemski seemed to be playing three against five. When Curry couldn’t get loose on the perimeter, he’d feed Podziemski, who was more eager to drive and look for space than shoot the rock himself. He drove inside, turned around and fired the ball right back out to Curry, who knocked down a 3-pointer.
The next possession, Curry worked around back-to-back Looney screens until Looney got open, then he fed him for an easy layup.
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Then came the dagger, when Looney collected a steal in his own end and fed it to Curry, who managed the open floor perfectly and found Podziemski for an and-one bucket that sank the Trail Blazers for good.
In those majestic 6 minutes, 37 seconds, the Warriors out-scored Portland 17-1.
They finished the game on a 21-7 run and avoided what could’ve been a deflating loss with just three days left in the regular season.
Curry finished with 22 points despite shooting just 5-for-16 from 3-point range. He added seven rebounds, eight assists, a steal and two blocks.
Looney (plus-19) and Podziemski (plus-13) led the team in plus-minus, while Looney added nine points, a team-high 11 rebounds, two steals and four blocks.
The Warriors will return home Friday night to host the New Orleans Pelicans (47-32).
