Warriors make late run for victory etched in ‘Klay’

Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 2, 2014

That one stung, like the bite of a bullet ant.

“In this league, a game’s never over,” Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts lamented after a 95-90 loss to Golden State Sunday night at the Moda Center. “When you’re down, you have to keep fighting. When you’re ahead, don’t take anything for granted.”

For most of the late going, it appeared Portland — behind the handiwork of LaMarcus Aldridge — would pull out a victory over a fellow Western Conference championship contender.

The All-Star power forward found a rhythm in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 straight Portland points, the last of five baskets providing a 90-88 lead with 2:01 to play.

The Blazers were not to score again.

Steve Kerr’s Warriors scored the final seven points, benefitting from three Portland turnovers in the final 14.3 seconds, to go 3-0 this season.

After Aldridge gave Portland the lead, neither team scored again until Golden State forward Andre Iguodala was fouled on a drive with 26.3 seconds to go. Iguodala made the first free throw, then missed the second, and Portland rebounded.

The Blazers moved into frontcourt, and the Warriors knew they eventually would have to foul. First, though, they swarmed Portland’s Wesley Matthews, who was trying to draw the foul. He lost his balance, the ball was knocked from his hands and, after a scramble, the ball went out of bounds.

The officials awarded the ball to Portland. After a video review, though, the call was reversed. Was Matthews fouled on the play?

“Apparently not,” said the Blazer guard, who watched video of the play on an iPad with teammate Nicolas Batum in the locker room afterward. “It’s (determined) by if the ref calls the foul or not. The ref didn’t deem it a foul, so I have to be stronger with the ball.”

After a timeout, Klay Thompson — a thorn in Portland’s side all night — scored on a runner from the left side over Matthews to give the Warriors a 91-90 edge with 8.7 seconds left.

“We were trying to get a counter-action going,” Kerr said. “Klay faked like he was coming up off the weak side, then we ran him off the baseline. Wesley played him perfectly. He chased him right off. The good thing was, (Andrew Bogut) set a good screen, and he got just enough of Matthews that Klay curled in.

“Once he got the ball, he was in a good scoring position, and he hit just a beautiful shot.”

After another timeout, Batum’s lobbed an inbound pass in frontcourt to Aldridge. But Golden State’s Draymond Green came from behind and knocked the ball away. It was picked up by Curry, who was fouled with 4.5 seconds remaining. He made both gift shots to provide a 93-90 lead.

Was there contact on the play?

“Yeah,” Aldridge said. “(There is with) most plays in the NBA. Green felt like had the opportunity to go get it. I had a little contact, but it wasn’t enough to call it, I guess. Got to live with it.”

Portland had no timeouts remaining. After the second of Curry’s gift shots, Aldridge picked up the ball, stepped out of bounds and launched a pass toward midcourt that was intercepted by Curry, whose free throws salted away the win.

“We didn’t do what we’re supposed to do,” Matthews said. “We didn’t take care of the ball.

“We had that game. We were in control. Then it kind of flipped on us, and they came out with a victory.”

Stotts and Portland point guard Damian Lillard didn’t buy the idea that it was faulty execution down the stretch that led to Portland’s demise, though Stotts conceded, “We didn’t take care of business the way we needed to.”

Lillard said the Warriors “made good defensive plays.”

No question about that. Still …

“They played good defense, but we can do a better job of execution, too,” Portland’s Nicolas Batum said. “We have to be more careful with the ball sometimes.”

Golden State’s “Splash Brothers,” Thompson and Curry, were coming off an epic performance in a 127-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday night. Thompson scored 41 and Curry 31, a showing so good that first-year coach Kerr called it “ridiculous.”

The backcourt pair combined for 50 Sunday night, Thompson going for a game-high 29 — 15 in the first quarter — and Curry 21.

“Those guys have no conscience, man,” Portland reserver center Chris Kaman said. “And they can really shoot. They shot the ball well two nights in a row. They pull the trigger, and they shoot it with confidence. On that last one (by Thompson), Wes was right there in his face and he still hit it.”

The Warriors’ duo was enough to counter Aldridge, who had a terrific game with 26 points and 13 rebounds, including his hot streak in the clutch.

“I was trying to be that guy to get us over the hump,” he said.

Matthews contributed 18 points, but Lillard had his third straight subpar offensive performance, sinking only 4 of 18 shots from the field — including 1 of 7 from 3-point range — while collecting 11 points, six rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes.

In three games, the All-Star point guard is averaging 13.7 points while shooting .268 (11 for 41) from the field. He grew testy when asked about it.

“I’m not going to answer no questions about that,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting pretty good looks and just not making shots, but I really don’t want to talk about that every game.”

Stotts was asked his evaluation of Lillard’s play.

“I see a guy competing who is not making shots he normally makes, but is playing very hard and trying to do the right things,” the third-year Portland coach said.

The Blazers shot .402 from the field, and .259 (7 for 27) from beyond the arc.

“We missed shots,” Lillard said. “We had some good looks we’re used to making that we didn’t make and they did. (The Warriors) got their hands on some balls, made some good defensive plays. They made some shots down the stretch and we didn’t.”

During the 2013-14 regular season, Portland averaged 106.7 points while shooting .460 from the field and .372 from 3-point range. So far this season, the Blazers are averaging 96.7 points while shooting .420 from the field and .329 on 3-point attempts.

“When you don’t make shots, it looks like the offense is out of sync,” Stotts said. “The shots that haven’t fallen, I’m not that concerned about. If we’d made shots we think we could make, the offense would have been fine.”

Matthews was asked for his appraisal.

“We haven’t shot the ball well,” he said. “It’s no secret our offense hasn’t been very good. Our defense was pretty good for the most part tonight. Our energy was up there more so than the first two games. That’s encouraging.

“Our offense is going to click. We’ll knock down shots, and that will change the game up.”

Even with the offensive troubles, Sunday’s game was right there for the Blazers to win down to the end.

“We had control down the stretch and just didn’t finish it,” Aldridge said. “We had opportunities to close it out and we just didn’t capitalize on those moments. We have to learn from it and not let it happen again.”

“It sucks to come away with a loss in a game you fight so hard, battle so hard,” Kaman said. “That’s a part of basketball, though. We have to get back at it. It doesn’t get any easier.”

Next up: LeBron James, Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night at the Moda Center.

“This was a pissed-off loss,” Matthews said. “The beauty of the NBA is we have another team coming in on Tuesday. Rest up tonight and get ready for Cleveland.”

NOTES: Golden State is 3-0 for the first time since the 1994-95 season. … The Warriors won despite missing power forward David Lee, who has been out so far this season with a strained hamstring. Aldridge went up against Green, who had five points and six rebounds in 29 minutes. … The Blazers had 19 turnovers, the Warriors 17. … Portland backup power forward Joel Freeland (foot) missed the game, but reserves Thomas Robinson (four points, six rebounds) and Will Barton (four points, two rebounds, two assists) saw their first significant action of the season. … Stotts, on Thompson’s performance: “He had a good night. Not as good as last night.”

kerryeggers@portlandtribune.com

Twitter: @kerryeggers