The Golden State Warriors will go for basketball’s version of a hat trick when they attempt to beat the Portland Trail Blazers for a third time in 17 days on Saturday night in San Francisco.
The Warriors were struggling, having lost nine of 12 and without back-to-back wins since Nov. 1-3, before rallying past the visiting Trail Blazers for a 110-106 home victory on Dec. 6. Stephen Curry had 31 points in the win.
That was the first of five wins in eight games, including a 118-114 triumph in a rematch in Portland last Sunday. Klay Thompson paved the way with 28 points on a night when the Trail Blazers held Curry to seven on an uncharacteristic 2-for-12 shooting.
The third meeting finds the Warriors on a four-game winning streak, including a 129-118 triumph over the visiting Washington Wizards on Friday night that equaled their largest margin of victory this season since a 130-102 laugher over the New Orleans Pelicans in October.
Meanwhile, Portland has dropped eight of nine, with the lone win coming Tuesday night at home, 109-104 over the Phoenix Suns.
The Trail Blazers have lost three in a row on the road as they prepare to play away from home for the first time since Dec. 11. They return home to play three straight to close the calendar year.
Portland is coming off a 118-117 loss to the Wizards, who were on the front half of a road back-to-back that took them to Golden State on Friday.
The Warriors’ win at Portland last Sunday was a coming-out party of sorts for rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, who surprised the Trail Blazers with a season-high 14 points and eight rebounds.
The son of former NBA standout Dale Davis, Jackson-Davis is getting increased playing time of late due to Draymond Green’s suspension. He followed his outburst against Portland with consecutive double-doubles in his past two outings — 10 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday’s win over the Boston Celtics, then 10 points and a season-high 15 rebounds Friday against the Wizards.
The 57th pick of this past summer’s draft, Jackson-Davis became just the third rookie this season to record back-to-back double-doubles, joining Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren.
“What Trayce is giving us is a different look,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The ability to finish, to block shots. He plays above the rim, and that’s different from our other guys.”
Andrew Wiggins (illness) joined injured Gary Payton II and the suspended Green out of the Warriors’ lineup Friday, and remains questionable to face the Trail Blazers. He had 25 points, his third-highest total this season, in Sunday’s win at Portland.
The Trail Blazers will have a shorter bench than the last time they saw the Warriors, with Shaedon Sharpe having left Thursday’s game against Washington with a groin injury. He did not make the trip to San Francisco.
Sharpe had 26 points in Portland’s visit to Golden State on Dec. 6.
In the wake of the offseason trade of Damian Lillard to Milwaukee, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said that his club is hurt more than most when it’s not at full strength.
“We’ve got some good players and some guys that are going to be All-Stars in this league,” Billups said. “But right now, we don’t have that dude that you can just throw it to and he can just kind of get us going for the first four or five minutes of the game. We just don’t have that. So we’ve got to do it collectively.”
–Field Level Media