Warriors at Trail Blazers
The Golden State Warriors won their last two games to erase some of the sting from an opening night loss at home, but both wins left the team feeling frustrated with its inability to come together smoothly. The Warriors will keep working the process when they continue their road trip by visiting the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are putting up solid numbers, but Golden State at various times looks disconnected on both ends of the floor in the early going. "It’s frustrating for everybody, but that’s a part of it," All-Star forward Draymond Green told the San Francisco Chronicle. “That’s to be expected. It’ll all come together. ... It’s a process. I’d much rather be here now and start peaking when it’s the right time." The Trail Blazers have their own process, and it involves watching Damian Lillard live up to his preseason MVP prediction. Lillard is averaging 35 points and 5.3 assists for a Portland offense averaging 111.3 points.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBATV, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (2-1): Golden State is undoubtedly the hunted in every game and morphed from NBA darlings to villains with the signing of Durant over the summer. “They’re going to come at us physically,” Durant told reporters after a 106-100 win in Phoenix on Sunday. “We took it tonight. That team was pressuring us to try to get us out of stuff. We kept moving. We had a nice pace." Durant and Curry combined to bury 7-of-12 3-pointers in the win but the rest of the team went 1-of-17 from beyond the arc, including a 0-of-6 effort from Klay Thompson.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (2-1): Portland will take the floor with some extra motivation after losing to the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals last spring in five games despite Lillard averaging 31.8 points and 7.6 assists. C.J. McCollum is a strong second scoring option and the Blazers are getting more from center Mason Plumlee in the early going. The Duke product totaled 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the last two games after a quiet opener against the Utah Jazz last week.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Green grabbed double-figure rebounds in each of the first three games and is averaging 10.3 points, 12 rebounds and 7.3 assists.
2. Trail Blazers C and former Warrior Festus Ezeli (knee) has yet to make his debut and is questionable for Tuesday.
3. Portland handed Golden State one of its nine regular-season losses last year with a 137-105 home triumph on Feb. 19 in which Lillard scored 51 points.