Jimmy Butler III had 24 points and seven assists and the visiting Golden State Warriors got a win they needed, beating the Portland Trail Blazers, 103-86, on Friday night.
The win moves the Warriors to 48-33 this season with their last regular-season game at home against the LA Clippers Sunday. Golden State is currently tied with the Timberwolves for the sixth seed in the Western Conference and owns the tiebreaker over Minnesota. The Warriors are a game behind the Nuggets and Clippers, who are tied for fourth. Golden State has the tiebreaker over Denver, but not LA.
Buddy Hield finished with 16 points for the Warriors. Jabari Walker led the Blazers with 19. The 86 points was a season low for Portland (35-46).
It was the Warriors’ ninth straight victory over the Blazers and 13th in the last 14 meetings.
The Blazers had eight players on the inactive list for the game, including leading scorer Anfernee Simons.
Blazers rookie Donovan Clingan got Portland off to a good start, scoring six straight points to open the contest and Portland led 20-14 after a drive by Rayan Rupert with 2:54 left in the first quarter, but the Warriors wouldn’t score again for over three minutes of game time. Golden State bridged the first and second quarters with a 14-0 run capped by a pair of free throws by Butler to take a lead they’d never lose.
Hield went 4-for-7 from 3-point range for the Warriors in the first half and Portland’s offense sputtered, shooting 31.9 percent in the first half. Golden State led 50-37 at halftime.
Golden State built the lead as big as 25 in the third quarter, but then went six minutes without a basket allowing the Blazers to pull to 67-52.
Late in the first quarter, Curry left the game with an injured right thumb. He returned in the second quarter playing with the thumb wrapped in white tape. Curry went 6-for-14 from the floor, 2-for-8 on 3-pointers and did not play in the fourth quarter.
