Forty-Six Years Ago, a Warriors-Blazers Game Like This One Changed Nothing
Portland visits Chase Center for a preseason finale that means little by itself, but it previews the real question of this season: whether a team missing two frontline scorers can still look like itself.
The Warriors close the preseason on October 16 against a Trail Blazers team they already lost to once this fall, five days before the regular season begins at the Lakers. On this date in 1980, Golden State beat Portland too, a forgettable result from the thinnest era in franchise history, and this year's roster is being asked to prove it doesn't belong in that company.
A win from the era with no identity
On October 15, 1980, Golden State beat Portland 95-92, in the middle of a nine-year stretch so thin it never found its footing, even with Purvis Short, Joe Barry Carroll and Robert Parish all on the roster at different points. One result from one night fixed nothing about that team. The Warriors close their preseason against the same opponent on October 16, five days before the regular season opens at the Lakers, and the comparison isn't the score. It's the question of whether this roster knows what it is yet.
Two scorers short of knowing
Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with a health issue first reported September 28. Jimmy Butler III isn't expected back until January, and Moses Moody is out until December. That leaves a team whose best lineup this preseason, Podziemski, Kuminga, Green, Butler and Curry together, has logged eight games and won't be assembled again until Butler returns. Stephen Curry is 38. Draymond Green is 36. Neither is who fills the gap night to night.
Who's actually filled it
Yaxel Lendeborg scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Kings on October 10, then added 17 more at the Lakers three days later. Charles Bassey's minutes are up nine a night with a teammate sidelined. Gui Santos has played 29.6 minutes a night over his last 10 games, nearly ten more than his season average. They weren't supposed to be the story this preseason. Each night, one of them has had to be.
What tonight is actually measuring
Portland is still on the road, two games into this trip, and already beat Golden State once this fall, 123-118, on October 7. A preseason finale settles nothing by itself, the same way that 1980 win over the same team didn't rescue a lost decade. What it can show is whether the players filling in for Porzingis and Butler look like a plan or an accident. That answer matters more than tonight's final margin, and more than it did at any point in the nine-year stretch this roster is not trying to repeat.
Have the Warriors and Trail Blazers played on this date before?
Yes. On October 15, 1980, Golden State beat Portland 95-92, during one of the thinnest stretches in franchise history. The two teams meet again on October 16, 2026, in the Warriors' preseason finale.
Is Kristaps Porzingis playing tonight against Portland?
No. Porzingis has been out indefinitely since a health issue was first reported on September 28, with no return date given.
