SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors went three days without a game, yet struggled to find any kind of energy or semblance in the first half Wednesday before pulling off a 110-106 comeback win against the Portland Trail Blazers at Chase Center.
Turnovers put the Warriors into an ugly hole early on. They had only nine assists but 10 turnovers for 13 Blazers points in the first half. Through three quarters, the Warriors dished just 12 assists but had committed 15 turnovers that turned into 23 points for the Blazers. The Warriors finally cleaned up their mistakes in the fourth quarter for a needed win.
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They tallied eight assists to two turnovers, neither of which led to points for Portland, over the final 12 minutes.
Steph Curry started slow before heating up and scoring a game-high 31 points. Draymond Green, 10 points and 10 rebounds, earned his first double-double of the season and was one assist shy of a triple-double.
But Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins struggled mightily, combining to score 20 points on 6-of-25 shooting.
The Warriors also held a 16-point advantage on free throws, going 28 of 33, compared to the Blazers being 12 of 16.
Golden State Warriors
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors improving to 10-11 on the season.
Second-half Steph
Curry was ice-cold headed to the locker room at halftime, going 1-of-8 shooting and 1 of 6 on 3s through the first two quarters for nine points. Getting virtually no help from his backcourt mate didn’t make matters any easier. Thompson missed all five of his first-half shot attempts and failed to make any of his four 3-point attempts.
But at least Curry brought some heat to a rainy San Francisco night in the second half, starting in the third quarter. That’s when Curry scored 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting, doing all he could to get the crowd going. All of the sudden, Curry was up to 26 points.
In the final 10 seconds of regulation, Curry sent the Blazers home thanks to a dagger of a shot beyond the arc.
Curry scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half, shooting 7 of 10 from the field in the final two quarters. The free-throw line also was his friend. Curry went 10 of 11 at the charity stripe.
Moody Keeps It Up
Only one Warrior had a positive plus/minus rating as they faced a seven-point halftime deficit: Moses Moody, who was a plus-1 at the time with nine points, three rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot. Look what a little bit of hesitation did for Moody to blow past No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson.
Moody continued to give Warriors coach Steve Kerr every reason to keep him on the court. The 21-year-old always is applauded for his maturity and the little things he does on the court. His hustle once again showed up, and Moody even took two charges.
The box score numbers also weren’t too bad.
Moody in 26 minutes scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and came down with four rebounds. He now has scored 10 or more points in four straight games, averaging 14.3 points on 54.1-percent shooting during that stretch. Moody now has 10 games in double figures this season, just two fewer than all of last season.
JK Takes Backseat … At First
Someone had to receive the short end of the stick now that the Warriors have Wiggins and Chris Paul back, while still waiting for an injured Gay Payton II. It wasn’t Moody; he was the first player off the bench. It wasn’t Brandin Podziemski, either. The rookie played the final four-plus minutes of the first quarter.
Jonathan Kuminga, at least Wednesday night, looked to be the odd man out.
When the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers at Chase Center six days ago, Kerr declared Kuminga’s 17-point, six-rebound performance was his best game of the season. But Kuminga then went from 23 minutes to 15-plus to zero.
Kuminga sat the entire first quarter. He sat the entire second quarter, too. Then with the Warriors down by 11 points at the 4:45 mark of the third quarter, Kuminga replaced Green.
And he gave the Warriors instant energy.
The Warriors were a plus-7 the duration of the third quarter with Kuminga on the court, who had four points and one steal in that span. Kerr kept Kuminga on the court to begin the fourth quarter, and his free throw at the 8:55 mark gave the Warriors their first lead of the game, 90-89.
Kuminga never came out, scoring 13 points in the final 17 minutes and finishing a perfect 6-of-6 shooting without any turnovers. Golden State was a plus-13 when Kerr let his ultra-athletic wing loose.