A Six-Minute Blazers Run Beat a Warriors Lineup Built From Depth
A fourth-quarter run by Portland's own reserves, not any absence in Golden State's lineup, decided a game the Warriors' depth chart had kept within reach all night.
The Warriors lost 118-123 at Portland in a game with 10 lead changes and 14 ties, and never led by more than three points. A Trail Blazers 9-0 run in the fourth quarter opened the gap that a late Golden State rally could not fully close.
A game that stayed open until it didn't
Golden State trailed 36-31 after one quarter, 57-50 at the half, and had the game flat at 86-86 through three. Fourteen times the score was tied and the lead changed hands ten times, yet the Warriors' largest lead all night was three points while Portland got out to as many as twelve. The finish was all scramble: down 12 in the fourth, Golden State clawed back to 115-123 on an Alex Toohey bank three, forced a turnover, got a steal from Will Richard, and had Dalen Terry hit a running three to make it 118-123 with six seconds left. It was too late.
The six minutes that actually cost them
The break came earlier. Tied at 91-90 with 9:28 left in the fourth, Portland ripped off a 9-0 run through the 7:15 mark to go up 93-99, and Golden State spent the rest of the game chasing that gap instead of a tie. It mirrored what Golden State's own reserves had done to tie the game minutes earlier, a 9-0 run from 77-84 down to 86-85 up late in the third. Portland's bench scored heavily in that final quarter too, with Jeremy Sochan going for 10 and Chris Youngblood for 8 in extended minutes.
Who Kerr trusted, and who it cost
With most of the regular rotation held out of the trip, the closing five was Charles Bassey, Dalen Terry, Malevy Leons, Miles Kelly and Will Richard. Kelly's plus-14 in 28 minutes was the best mark either team produced; Richard finished plus-4 in 33 minutes on 3-of-3 shooting from three. The damage sat elsewhere: Alex Toohey was minus-20 in just 19 minutes, and LJ Cryer was minus-18 in 18, two stretches that handed back everything the depth lineup had built.
Grades, and a short window for this group
Kelly earns the best grade of the night: 24 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six made threes on 16 shots. Terry was one assist short of a triple-double at 23-8-9, though it came with four turnovers and 43 minutes of work. Brandon Williams was the most efficient scorer on either roster, 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting in only 18 minutes. None of it changes a 0-0 preseason record, but it does set a clock: the next game, against Sacramento on October 10, lines up with the date several of tonight's absent regulars carry next to their names. This version of the rotation may not get another night together before it does.
Why did so many Warriors starters miss the game in Portland?
NBC Sports Bay Area reported that nine regulars, including Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, did not travel for the game. That left a depth-built lineup to carry the Warriors' side on its own.
What decided the Warriors' loss to the Trail Blazers?
A 9-0 Portland run in the fourth quarter, from a 91-90 tie to a 93-99 lead, was the stretch Golden State never fully answered. A late rally closed the final margin to five, but not in time.
