Golden State Warriors blasted by Trail Blazers in rare rout

“And then the wheels came off”, Curry said.

Portland Trail Blazers’ guard Damian Lillard hits a three point shot over Golden State Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson during the third quarter of their National Basketball Association game at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter in Portland Friday.

Stephen Curry added 31 points, three rebounds and five assists to the Warriors cause, but despite performing strongly on the night, the Warriors point guard’s performance was overshadowed by his Portland counterpart.

McCollum finished with 31 points.

Damian Lillard scored a career-high 51 points and had seven assists and six steals to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a stunningly dominant 137-105 victory over the NBA-leading Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

And it being the first game after the All-Star break, they’re best hope may be the Warriors potentially needed a game to get going. “And I was able to”.

Derrick Favors led the Jazz (27-28) with 22 points, while Gordon Hayward added 21 points and four steals in the loss.

Orlando’s Victor Oladipo had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and hit the 3-pointer that put the Magic ahead for good in overtime against Dallas en route to a 110-104 win. He has kept the ship afloat and has made other players better, particularly CJ McCollum.

Losing LaMarcus Aldridge this offseason was a tough blow for the Trail Blazers, but Portland has rebounded nicely to go into the break with a 27-27 record and seventh-place spot in the Western Conference standings.

Utah (27-28) could have passed the Blazers with a win Sunday night.

The 42 points the Warriors surrendered in the first quarter were the most an opposing team had scored against them in any quarter this season. During the course of the Blazers’ hot streak, Lillard is averaging 25.3 points per game. Coming off a career-high 51-point performance two nights earlier against the Warriors, Lillard pulled up for four consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter to bring Portland within two.

Stephen Curry could only watch.

The Blazers saw improvement in January, going 9-5 for their best finish in that month since the 2008-09 season when they posted the same record. Center Mason Plumlee hiked Portland’s lead to 105-101 on a driving layup with 2:17 remaining. Favors got the ball on the block against Ed Davis and juked into an open turnaround jumper, but he sailed it long and Portland ended up with the ball with 15.1 seconds left. McCollum sealed it with a pair at the line with 2.7 ticks to go.

Maybe more disconcerting for the Warriors’ coaching staff was the fact that the team’s defense was worse than its offense. We really struggled to score. “Our mindset now is, ‘Let’s get a fifth, sixth seed, or however it goes, maybe win a series.’ We’r e raising the bar for ourselves, and it’s starting to show”.

“Whether I make the All-Star team or not, my focus is on making this team a winning team”, said Lillard, who scored 32 points in the second half, with 21 of those in the fourth quarter. The Blazers won for the ninth time in their past 12 meetings with the Jazz….

This will be the second matchup of the season between these two teams. Portland won three of four….