Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of which team has the best player, and on Monday night, that was exactly the case as the Warriors fell to the Portland Trail Blazers by a final score of 129-124.
En route to a career-high 61 points, Damian Lillard had an answer every time the Warriors appeared to have the game in control. He effectively sent the game to overtime after connecting on a late three-pointer in the game’s final minute, tied the game late in the overtime period with another three-pointer and converted the two go-ahead free throws with the Warriors clinging to a one-point lead with less than 30 seconds remaining in the overtime period.
In the end, his 61 points came on 17-for-37 shooting from the field. The output was the highest-scoring game of the season and set a Trail Blazers franchise record. That he was able to accomplish that without CJ McCollum was especially impressive.
Lillard’s tremendous effort outshined excellent performances from Alec Burks (33 points), D’Angelo Russell (27 points) and Eric Paschall (22 points).
Even without Draymond Green and Glen Robinson III, though, the Warriors were able to take their talents to Portland’s Rose Garden and nearly leave with a victory. Wille Cauley-Stein controlled the paint for the Warriors and seemed to always grab an offensive rebound when the team needed it the most.
Still, there was simply too much Lillard for the Warriors, as the club couldn’t follow up Saturday night’s victory over the Orlando Magic with another in Portland.
For the contest, the Warriors allowed the Blazers to shoot 44% from the field and were minus-15 at the three-point line and minus-eight at the free-throw line.
The Warriors will return to San Francisco to play host to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
