Warriors Punish Struggling Trail Blazers: Post-Game Roundup

The Golden State Warriors jumped out to an early lead over the Portland Trail Blazers and never looked back on Saturday. The Warriors won every quarter, by margins of 18, 7, 11, and 9, en route to a 135-90 blowout. Kevin Durant led the way with 34 points on just 13 field goal attempts. The Trail Blazers were led by Damian Lillard with 20 points, followed by Maurice Harkless with 17.

After the game, head coach Terry Stotts was asked about his level of concern after tonight, as well as the team’s defense.

— video via CSN NW

Dwight Jaynes of CSN NW weighed in on Stotts comments...

Stotts was asked about his team's defense over the last two games, when opponents have shot so well that the Blazers have simply had no chance to win. In fact, Portland has gone two games in a row when it has never, NEVER had a lead. I don't know about you, but I find that incredible.

...

Stotts has always gone to great pains to protect his players and it's worked well for him. But at some point, I would wonder if it might serve him better to point out mistakes -- not necessarily by naming individual players but by speaking in a general manner about them all. Would that be so terrible? And might it motivate? I don't know.

Yes, Golden State is terrific. But until tonight they hadn't beaten anybody by 45 points. In fact, nobody in the NBA had beaten anybody by 45 points. The worst teams in the league haven't lost to anyone by 45. I would probably find those 45 points disturbing if I had a Trail Blazer logo on my paycheck.

The Trail Blazers (13-16) play their eighth road game in the last nine outings on Tuesday, in Sacramento, taking on DeMarcus Cousins and the Kings (10-16) before returning home.