San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Lillard takes Round 1 vs. Curry
Stephen Curry will remember every detail of this.
Damian Lillard scored a gamehigh 34 points, hitting 6 of 10 3point attempts, Friday night as Portland ruined the Warriors’ home opener with a 12398 beatdown at Chase Center.
Curry had 26 points, shooting 4for12 on 3pointers.
“Losing sucks. Obviously, when you do it in this fashion, in your home opener,” Curry said. “It was just one of those nights when you kind of know from the jump that the other team is hot and has something to prove. We didn’t respond or answer.”
When Lillard was on the court, Portland outscored the Warriors by 33 points. When Curry played, the Warriors were outscored by 27.
Two of the most dynamic point guards in the league don’t actually defend each other very often, but when they play against each other, it makes for huge NBA buzz.
His teammates might not have understood the magnitude based on their play, but Curry knew seven hours before the opening tip. Moments after shootaround, he addressed the fact that the eyes of the league would be focused on the matchup.
“Any time you play the best in the league in terms of the point guard position, there are a lot of guys who bring the best out of you, and Dame is definitely one of them,” Curry said. “He’s gotten better every single year. He’s elevated to elite status. At the end of the day, we love that competition, that battle — whether it’s in the playoffs or during the regular season. Everybody says, ‘ It’s just another game,’ and that’s obviously true. But you know you’ve got to be on your game to get the job done, especially against a guy like that.”
Against Portland, Curry has shot 46.3% from 3point range and averaged 26.7 points — his best average against any opponent, except for Charlotte, Toronto and Washington. Curry also helped the Warriors knock the Trail Blazers out of the playoffs in 2016, ’ 17 and ’ 19.
Lillard has averaged 28.9 points on 42.5% 3point shooting against the Warriors — his best regularseason numbers against any opponent.
But the Oakland High graduate said it’s not the same playing against the Warriors
“You’ve got to be on your game to get the job done, especially against a guy like that.” Stephen Curry, on Damian Lillard
in San Francisco. For years, the Portland bus exited Interstate 880 on 66th or 98th Avenue — blocks away from his childhood home.
Now he never sees the East Bay during trips to the Bay Area.
And Portland’s defensive strategy has changed just as dramatically.
“If we can make ( Curry’s) life hard and make other guys have to beat us, take shots Steph is used to taking or they’re not used to taking, we’ll have a good chance,” Lillard said of the Friday game plan. “That’s how we played. We didn’t want to give them clean looks and let them get going, like last season when we came here. If they get comfortable and start making shots, you can get run out of here. It doesn’t matter who’s on the court. We experienced that last season.”
One of the Warriors’ 15 wins last season was a 127118 victory over Portland in which they played without Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
Lillard hasn’t forgotten. And Curry won’t forget the latest iteration of the series.
In fact, he’s happy the unique coronavirus protocol schedule has Portland staying in town for a couple more days, creating another showdown Sunday.
“It’ll be a great test, because we understand some of the things we did wrong,” Curry said. “If we can make those adjustments and come with some competitive fire, that’ll show a lot about who we are and our resiliency. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to come back and make those adjustments, play better and compete.”