Portland Trail Blazers (11-14) vs. Golden State Warriors (20-4)

The Portland Trail Blazers are back on the road taking on The Golden State Warriors in San Fransisco. The Trail Blazers have been struggling, losing six out of seven of their last games. The rumors are flying about discontent within the team and with the coach, the GM has been fired and replaced with an interim, and four of the team’s key players are injured, including star point guard Damian Lillard. A win against the league’s highest standing team on the road seems nearly impossible right now.

Wednesday, December 8 - 7:00 p.m. PT
How to watch on TV: ESPN, ROOT Sports, NBA League Pass
Blazers injuries: Damian Lillard (out), Anfernee Simons (questionable), Nassir Little (questionable), CJ McCollum (out), Ben McLemore (questionable), Cody Zeller (questionable)
Warriors injuries: Klay Thompson (out), James Wiseman (out), Andre Iguodala (questionable)
SBN Affiliate: Golden State of Mind

What To Watch For

Steph Curry 3s. Golden State Warriors’ point guard Steph Curry is 16 three pointers away from breaking the current NBA record held by Ray Allen. It’s a record he’s obviously on track to break this season, and likely in the next couple of games. Could he do it in Portland? Possibly. But either way, Steph Curry and his three point shot are always on the list of things to watch for.

Jusuf Nurkic. Portland’s big man turned it on in the Blazers’ last game against the Clippers. It seems as though Nurkic has been hot and cold this season, but as we have mentioned previously, his game greatly affects the outcome of the team. With so many injuries, the Blazers need Nurkic to perform more than ever. If he can manage to continue having games like the last one, that’s going to go a long way to help Portland get back on track.

Andrew Wiggins corner 3. The key to this game in more ways than one may be the three point shot. If the Blazers can't stop the three, they’re not going to be able to stop the Warriors. Wiggins loves the corner three, and the Blazers are notoriously bad at guarding it. In his last game, Wiggins had eight made three point shots. Portland will need to slow him down if they have any hope of winning this game.

What Others Are Saying

Andre Iguodala may make his return against the Trail Blazers, but either way, fans are expecting to see Curry make a run at breaking the 3 point record according to Sean Keane of Golden State of mind:

Andre is apparently feeling better, or he’s excited to play in Steph’s longshot bid to tie or pass Ray Allen’s career record for three-pointers when the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Chase Center Wednesday night, before the team heads out on a five-game East Coast road trip. Curry needs 15 made threes to tie, which would be a single-game record, but considering how Portland plays defense, it’s not an entirely outlandish idea. For his career with the Warriors, Iguodala is 14-4 against the Blazers.

Nurkic had a fantastic game against the Clippers, showing exactly what he’s capable of according to Casey Hodahl.

Jusuf Nurkic had on of his best games of the season, scoring almost at will versus whoever the Clippers threw at him while limiting LA’s center rotation to 10 points and six rebounds.

“I was happy for Nurk, he had a huge night,” said Billups. “There was no answer for him, there was nothing that (Zubac) could do. I found myself just trying to give him plays off and not run every single play for him just to wear him out and get him tired. He was really good.”