(SportsNetwork.com) – The Portland Trail Blazers will try to get back on track
Sunday night when they welcome the Golden State Warriors to the Moda Center.
The Blazers are 1-1, but the victory was against a Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma
City Thunder. On Friday, the Blazers fell, 103-94, to the Sacramento Kings on
the road.
Portland has looked out of sync all season, but it really hit the surface in
the loss to Sacramento. The Blazers gave up 40 points to Rudy Gay in the
setback.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 22 points, followed by 20 from fellow
All-Star, Damian Lillard. Wesley Matthews chipped in 16 points and Chris Kaman
added 12 off the bench.
Lillard has struggled in the early going. He has shot 7-for-23 from the field
through two games.
“I’m just trying to be patient,” said Lillard. “I’m just trying to find my
way. We played the same style that we’ve been playing and my job is to find my
way.”
The Blazers advanced in the playoffs for the first time in 14 years last
season, but the players know they can’t rest on what they accomplished last
season.
“We can’t be satisfied because we had a good season last year,” said Nicolas
Batum. “People want to beat us now. So if we want to be in the same position
as last year we’ve got to come out and be strong and be a good team. It starts
with me on defense, Wes on defense, everybody on defense. Now we’ve got to
come out Sunday, a big team is coming to town, another playoff team so we need
this win.”
The Warriors went to 2-0 thanks to their amazing backcourt. Klay Thompson
scored a career-high 41 points and Steph Curry added 31 and 10 assists as the
Warriors squashed the Los Angles Lakers Saturday night, 127-104.
“It was a great game. We got some great flow,” said Thompson, who signed a
max, four-year contract extension on Friday. “It’s always fun going up against
the Lakers.”
Harrison Barnes added 15 points and no other member of the Warriors scored in
double figures.
Golden State shot a wild 55.4 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from
long range. They held the Lakers in check defensively and scored 26 points off
22 Lakers’ turnovers.
The Blazers and Warriors split four meetings last season, but the Warriors
have taken five of the last seven matchups. The teams are 4-4 in the last
eight battles in Portland.
