Blazers hand Warriors first home loss 127-123

Splash Fro breaks down the gut punch of an L.

Someone in league scheduling musta bet the under for GSW wins this season and they ain’t even tryin’ to hide it. Twelve of 18 games on the road with 5 back to backs over 11,000 miles to start the season. 17 games in 29 days across 13 cities.

A return to Chase Center this weekend, where Golden State had been 5-0 coming into Friday’s matchup, was supposed to help the recovery time from a brutal early-season schedule. The Dubs followed some huge wins last week with back to back Ls to undermanned squads. Riley told us about those trap games.

Brutal is how the Trailblazers treated the Warriors when they met the first week of the season - a 119-139 bludgeoning with eight players scoring in double figures. Dub Nation had this revenge game circled on the calendar. The Three Wise Men sat versus the Heat so many anticipated some Chase Center home cooking to spark this 5 game homestand.

Size, Youth, Athleticism

Coming into training camp, the Warriors roster exhibited some hard to look past flaws in its construction - the most obvious one being size. With undersized C Kevon Looney now in a Pelicans jersey, fans awaited an offseason free agent signing of a big that never materialized. Eighteen games into the season, Kerr reluctantly relies on 6’6” Draymond Green at the five. For all his defensive prowess, there’s only so much one can do against bigger opponents. Portland rookie center Donovan Clingan is listed with an 8” height and 50 pound weight advantage over the experienced Green.

Portland was great early on leveraging their size advantage against Golden State. Clingan ate up space in the lane and was the beneficiary of some early first quarter lobs along the baseline in the dunker’s spot. Even C/F Robert Williams III got in on the action. F Deni Avdija continued his breakout season on the left coast leading the way for Portland with a team high 26 points.

Offensively, the Warriors looked out of rhythm to start the game. Previous versions of the Warriors would make teams pay dearly for playing their bigs. SC30 did get cooking with a few step back 3s isolated with Clingan on the wings, but not to the point where it was a liability. Golden State could not play the Portland bigs off the floor.

Defensively, the Dubs looked a step slow, struggling to keep their defensive assignment in front of them. As much as Portland wants to get to the rim, I thought the Warriors closed out too much against the Blazers on the perimeter. Half way through the first quarter, Portland was already in the bonus with zero team fouls. It’s gonna be a long night in San Francisco.

In more stunning news, the Warriors will always be the more experienced - ok fine - older team unless they’re playing the Clippers. Someone tell these young whipper snappers to get off the Thrive City artificial turf.

Athleticism is another nightly uphill battle for the Warriors. While our most athletic player, F Jonathan Kuminga, sits on the bench with knee tendinitis amidst the swirling rumors of discontent, it’s really only Jimmy Butler and Little Big Man Gary Payton II that checks off that athleticism box for Golden State.

Overcoming size, youth and athleticism would normally spell disaster for most teams night in and night out, yet the Warriors maintained pace with the Trailblazers. The veteran core of Curry, Butler and Green would see to it. There were signs at the back half of both the first and second periods that Golden State would shake off the slow start.

Brandin Podziemski’s 15 first half points and Curry’s 23 had the Chase Center crowd buzzing, taking a seven point lead into halftime.

As the game wore on, those deficiencies really started to hurt the Warriors The younger, more athletic Blazers killed the Dubs on the offensive boards 21-8. Second chance points 28-10. Tough to create separation. I kept hearing “young & athletic” all night long about the Blazers - not only Fitz & Kelenna during the local broadcast, but also during Post Game Live.

Despite it all, the Warriors kept it close enough to possibly steal the game. Having the greatest shooter ever will do that for you.

Kelenna noted how the Warriors hadn’t been able to practice in the past 10 days of the road trip. The box score is a little deceiving. Steph’s game high 38 coupled with Butler and Podz throwing in 20 each might look good, but Portland’s four players with 20+ and that snowballed combo of size, youth and athleticism proved too much to overcome.

Career highs parlay

If your parlay had three Portland Trailblazers going for career highs, you’re already spending your winnings on Black Friday deals. Career highs for Avdija with 14 assists, Clingan with 22 points and out of nowhere Caleb Love off the Portland bench with 26 points and a game clinching 3PT to keep the game out of reach.

1975 Championship Team

The Chase Center crowd was also treated to a special night commemorating the 1975 NBA Champs. Dub Nation faithful were treated to the champs meet & greet at the team store and on-court presentations honoring their unlikely run 50 years ago.

No Cup for You

The loss puts Golden State at 1-2 in group play, eliminating them from NBA Cup contention. We have bigger problems to address. Kerr said post-game how he’s more concerned with the team’s offensive cohesion than defensive play. With De’Anthony Melton working his way back from injury and Seth Curry joining the team, I’m hoping we’ll see some consistent bench support.

The new home streak starts next week. Finally a team practice on Sunday before hosting the Utah Jazz on Monday then the tall and lengthy Houston Rockets with former Warrior Kevin Durant and Bay Area local Amen Thompson are in town before Thanksgiving.