Another taste of home dominance
This wasn’t a good example, but the Warriors’ season is about to get serious.
The Warriors put themselves in a dramatic hole before promptly destroying Portland 118-103 on Friday night at Chase Center.
Of course, Klay Thompson (Achilles) and James Wiseman (knee) were going to be out, but the Warriors decided to grant a night off for Andre Iguodala (knee) and Damion Lee (personal). They also sent Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody to the franchise’s G League team in Santa Cruz to join Jeff Dowtin.
That left the Warriors (17-2) with more than enough to win their sixth in a row and their 10th straight home game. The Warriors have won their past 10 home games by at least 10 points — the thirdlongest such streak in franchise history.
“We have a really good team,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s the main thing. If you’re good, and you can defend like we’re defending, you’re going to win a lot of home games.
“I love the way we’ve established that early in the season. Our fans can feel it. We can hear our fans every night. We hear the noise, the energy, the excitement every night.”
Golden State won a franchise-record 11 straight home games by double digits in 2014-15 and had a 10-game span in 2017.
Back then, it was a Stephen Curry showcase. That isn’t always needed anymore.
Sure, Curry was still the game’s leading scorer with 32 points, but Draymond Green also had 12 points and 12 assists. The rest was left to the tack-ons.
The three other starters — Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney — scored 51.
“As long as they get ready for the next games and take care of business, they should enjoy every second of this,” Kerr said.
The Trail Blazers (10-10),
who had won four in a row before losing at Sacramento on Wednesday, got only 16 points from Damian Lillard, who went 5-for-15 from the floor.
From Oakland High, Lillard had averaged 28.9 points against Golden State for his career, but even coming off a Western Conference Player of the Week award, he didn’t have anything against a team seeking higher rewards.
The best team in the league, the Warriors rank first in scoring and defensive rating. They’ll need that against the Clippers on Sunday and consecutive games against the Suns, who have won 15 in a row.
The Warriors played like they were already playing against that elite competition after the early going, which included five ties and five lead changes in a first quarter defined by offensive excellence. Nobody from either team missed a shot for the opening three minutes, and the Warriors were still shooting nearly 55% when Curry’s layup provided a 27-26 lead with 3.6 seconds left.
Curry checked back into the game with 3:09 remaining and the Warriors leading by two. A minute later, Poole and Curry had made 3-pointers for a six-point advantage and a Portland timeout.
After a Lillard technical foul and another Curry 3pointer, the Warriors led 58-44 going into a disjointed halftime. As the teams went to the separate sides, Portland assistant coach Scott Brooks berated the officials and was ejected.
Curry made one of the free throws ahead of the third quarter to give the Warriors a 15-point lead that wouldn’t be challenged. The Warriors were up by 91-70 by the end of the third quarter.
That was about the time that they started looking ahead.