Stephen Curry returned and Andre Iguodala was sidelined with a hamstring strain in a game that resulted in six technical fouls and three ejections. That was the outcome of the Warriors-Blazers brawl on Saturday night, where Andrew Bogut somehow avoided being ejected from the game.
Saturday night’s game was personal. Not only for the Warriors, who were supposed to win the game after Draymond Green was unexpectedly ejected after a brawl, but also for me since I attend school in Oregon—there are a large number of Portland fans and not nearly enough Warriors fans up here. I watched Saturday night’s game at a Blazers fans’ house, and although the Warriors ended up losing 113-101 after leading by as much as 14-points in the third; it was a fantastic game.
These are two teams capable of flawless shooting. The first quarter seemed more like a shootaround than anything else. Klay Thompson ended the game with 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting. It was nice seeing Stephen Curry back on the court, and he finished the game with 22 points—despite having an uncharacteristically off night, where he went 8-21 from the field and 2-9 on three pointers—and 11 assists, for another double-double. The same went for David Lee, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The game was fast-paced and very aggressive, which led to the Warriors ending up in foul trouble. Klay Thompson—after sitting for most of the third—came back to play in the fourth quarter with five fouls, and ended up fouling out after an offensive foul was called with over five minutes left in the game. The fouls weren’t the only proof that this game was aggressive.
In the third quarter, Andrew Bogut and Joel Freeland got tangled up under the rim, which (not surprisingly, given Bogut’s reputation) ended in quite the brawl. It seemed more push and shove until LaMarcus Aldridge came to his teammates’ rescue and punched Bogut in the chin. After many different officials, security officers, coaches, and staff broke up the fight, the officials went to replay in an attempt to sort everything out.
The ejections were quite confusing. David Lee, Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green all received technicals for the Warriors, and Wesley Matthews, Mo Williams and LaMarcus Aldridge also received technicals. Green, Matthews and Williams were ejected from the game. People took to twitter wondering why Bogut – the instigator - wasn’t ejected. He started the fight and yet Draymond Green, who seemed to be a very minor part of the quarrel, was ejected. They also wondered why Aldridge—who had punched Bogut in the face and escalated the brawl—was still able to play in the game. Well, your guess is as good as mine.
After the brawl, you would have expected the Warriors to pull through after being up by 8 points, but from then on the Trail Blazers played impeccable defense. Golden State attempted to make a comeback once they fell behind, but with three minutes left in the fourth quarter the Blazers’ were up by 14. The Warriors finished the fourth quarter with 17 points and 8 rebounds, barely better than Aldridge, who personally finished the quarter with 15 points and 9 rebounds.
This is the Warriors’ third straight loss and third straight game playing without one of their starters—they played two games without Stephen Curry (mild concussion) and Saturday’s game without Andre Iguodala (hamstring strain). The Warriors have been off lately, but once the team is healthy, they should bounce back. The Warriors will face the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, when they’ll look to break their losing streak.
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