KD delivers KO against Trail Blazers
Stephen Curry marvels at Kevin Durant’s efficiency: 30 points on 16 shots in his latest outing.
KD finds plenty of things in the MVP’s game to praise, too. And when the two are clicking together, as they were on Wednesday night, the Golden State Warriors are all but unstoppable.
Curry had 35 points with five 3-pointers while Durant added three more blocked shots as the Warriors held off the Portland Trail Blazers, 125117.
“It’s pretty special; I didn’t realize it at first,” Curry said of KD’s ability to light up a stat line on minimal shot attempts. “He’s a super-efficient player and he takes pride in that.”
Zaza Pachulia scored 13 points to hit double figures in consecutive games for the first time this season, just his fourth time reaching double digits for Golden State.
He also matched his career highwiththreeblocksinGolden State’s ninth straight home win.
CJ McCollum scored 35 points to lead a Portland team still without Damian Lillard, and the Trail Blazers certainly had to feel better about hanging tough in this one after their forgettable 45-point loss here last month.
Curry shot 12 for 25 on a night fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson struggled to find his stroke from long range, going just one for seven from downtown and scoring 14 points.
Coming off a triple-double, Draymond Green had 11 assists, nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and a late block with five fouls.
Durant was dominant at both ends of the court, especially during one spectacular sequence late in the first.
He made a driving lay-in and converted a three-point play at the 2:50 mark, blocked two shots in succession moments later — one against McCollum then on Noah Vonleh’s putback try.
KD drained a 3-pointer the nexttimedown,andalsohada four-point play in the final minute of the first half.
“He’s been amazing, and it’s not just rim protection,” said Green, who challenged Durant “to fly around” on defense.
The Warriors’ five straight wins against the Trail Blazers mark their first five-game winning streak versus Portland since winning seven in a row from Feb 20, 2005 to Nov 3, 2006.
Golden State also has won six straight in the series at home. That includes the blowout victory on Dec 17 — 135-90 — for the biggest margin by Golden State in the series and matching the largest point disparity in any game played between the rivals.
Kerr’s message
Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared how he texted Lakers coach Luke Walton on Tuesday night regarding a play by Grizzlies guard Mike Conley.
Once he’d said it, he begged NBA president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe not to penalize him again.
“Mike Conley took like five steps on the play. It was like, ‘Not only are we going to let you to travel, we’re going to give you the benefit of that touch at the end, too.’ It’s like, ‘All right, we have to adapt to that,’” said Kerr, who was fined $25,000 in November for criticizing game officials.