Green’s return not a quick fix
Warriors forward debuts following injury
Draymond Green’s long-awaited return was not expected to be a quick fix, and that was made clear in the Golden State Warriors’ 123- 98 home- opening loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday at Chase Center.
After Green’s season debut was delayed four games because of foot and conditioning issues, he went scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting and had four rebounds and four assists in 19 minutes in his first game in 10 months. Though Green contributed to moments of budding chemistry, these newlook Warriors (2-3) are still a long way from competing with the top teams in the Western Conference.
One of those teams is the Trail Blazers (3-2), who are led by perhaps the best backcourt in the league — as long as Klay Thompson, out for the season with a torn Achilles, is injured — in Damian Lillard and C. J. McCollum. Portland’s premier duo combined to score 62 points on 22-for- 42 shooting and paced an offense that made 46.5% of their 3-point attempts in the game.
For the Warriors, Stephen Curry had 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes, but could not find his 3-point shot (9-for-20 overall, 4-for-12 from 3-point range) as the Warriors overall struggled from beyond the arc, from where they shot just 7-for-35 (20%).
This was a game that got out of hand early, as the Trail Blazers made seven of thei r first eight 3-point attempts and, with McC ol lum’ s step- back j u mp e r , opened up a 20- point lead a little more than nine minutes into the game.
“The start of the game was very disappointing,” said head coach Steve Kerr. “We just didn’t have much energy and they came out smoking hot. They were making everything.”
Though the Warriors cut the deficit to single digits a handful of times throughout the game, the Trail Blazers maintained a healthy distance en route to a comfortable win.
Before Friday, it had been 307 days since Green last played, and it looked
like it. Limited to 5- 6 minute spurts as his conditioning continues to progress, Green had a hard time getting comfortable, especially alongside this unfamiliar supporting cast.
“He needs a few games under his belt to get that conditioning and that rhythm,” Kerr said. “There’s no question it’s going to take some time.”
If there was a bright spot, it was that two of Green’s four assists set up Curry 3-pointers. On one play that was particularly vintage, Green stole the ball from Portland center Enes Kanter near the rim, initiated a fast break and found Curry trailing for a 3-pointer.
This is the sort of thing that has been missing from Golden State’s offense, and something Green should, eventually, be able to provide more as his minutes ramp up.
“We just need everybody available to keep going through these lumps early and try to find our way and find our identity,” Curry said. “And, for me and him, we got to be able to lead that.”