{"id":199406,"date":"2025-10-09T05:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T05:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/199406\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T05:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T05:40:07","slug":"trail-blazers-lose-to-golden-state-warriors-but-impress-in-preseason-opener-rapid-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/199406\/","title":{"rendered":"Trail Blazers lose to Golden State Warriors, but impress in preseason opener: Rapid Reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chauncey Billups<\/a> warned earlier this week that there would be \u201cno reason to read into anything\u201d regarding his starting lineup and rotation choices during the Portland Trail Blazers\u2019<\/a> four tune-up games before the regular season.<\/p>\n

It is, after all, only the preseason. And the Blazers\u2019 coach is eager to do a plethora of experimenting with the depth of his new roster. <\/p>\n

So it would probably be wise to heed the same advice about the Blazers\u2019 performance in their exhibition opener. <\/p>\n

But, boy oh boy, it was quite a performance. <\/p>\n

The Blazers suffered a 129-123 loss to the Golden State Warriors<\/a> Wednesday night at the Chase Center. But Portland erupted for 73 first-half points and carried a 19-point lead into the fourth quarter during the defeat, outclassing the more ballyhooed Warriors while both teams\u2019 key rotation players were on the court. <\/p>\n

The end of Golden State\u2019s bench outscored the Blazers\u2019 backups 51-26 in the final period. But before the rally, a team that has repeatedly proclaimed defense and speed and tenacity would be the hallmarks of its identity sure did put on an offensive show. <\/p>\n

TOP PERFORMERS<\/p>\n

Shaedon Sharpe had an impressive exhibition debut heading into an important season, scoring 22 points to steady a hot-shooting Blazers offense. The fourth-year guard made 9 of 15 shots, including 4 of 8 three-pointers, and he scored all over the court, swishing threes, finishing smooth layups and completing driving floaters in 23 minutes. <\/p>\n

But Sharpe was hardly alone. Toumani Camara finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 18 minutes. He was especially hot in the first quarter, when he drained 4 of 5 three-point attempts. Deni Avdija added 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a block in 20 minutes for the Blazers.<\/p>\n

The Warriors normally potent offense was overshadowed by the Blazers\u2019 first-half eruption (see below), but Buddy Hield (13 points, four rebounds), Jimmy Butler (12 points, three assists, two steals) and Steph Curry (11 points, three assists) had their moments. Quinten Post led the Warriors with 20 points, with 15 coming during their fourth-quarter comeback.<\/p>\n

PROLIFIC FIRST HALF<\/p>\n

The Blazers\u2019 new-look offense was an impressive blur of movement, speed and precision in the first half, when they erupted for 73 points and torched the Warriors in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n

The Blazers shared the ball, collecting 17 assists on 25 field goals. They pushed the pace, accumulating eight fast-break points. They owned the key, outscoring the Warriors 24-16 in the paint. And they lit it up from long range, making 12 of 28 three-pointers.<\/p>\n

No one was hotter than Sharpe, who erupted for 20 points. But he was hardly alone, as Avdija (13 points, 4-for-8 shooting) Camara (12 points, four threes), Jerami Grant (eight points, five rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (four points, seven assists) steadied a balanced attack that saw nine different Blazers score. The Blazers reeled off a 16-2 run during one hot stretch and built a lead as large as 17 points during the blistering half. \u00a0<\/p>\n

When it was all said and done, the Blazers carried a decisive 73-57 edge into halftime.<\/p>\n

STARTING LINEUP SURPRISE<\/p>\n

As for the starting lineup that Billups urged fans not to blow out of proportion, it did feature a small surprise. The Blazers went with Holiday, Sharpe, Grant, Camara and Donovan Clingan in the first unit, which meant that Avdija \u2014who enjoyed a breakout season in 2024-25 \u2014 came off the bench.<\/p>\n

Billups said Tuesday that he would \u201ctinker\u201d with his lineup and rotation throughout the preseason and very likely would use a different starting lineup in all four of the Blazers\u2019 exhibition games. So expect a different look Friday night against the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n

HANSEN DEBUT<\/p>\n

Yang Hansen made his eagerly-anticipated Blazers debut when he entered the game with 8:11 left in the first quarter. Four seconds later, he drew an offensive foul battling for a rebound and roughly three minutes after that, he coughed up a turnover on an ill-advised pass. When Butler, who forced the turnover, pushed the pace the other way, Hansen tripped near midcourt and tumbled to the court. Needless to say, it was a rough first shift. <\/p>\n

But, with 7:25 left in the third quarter, the Chinese rookie scored his first points, finishing a two-handed layup at the rim on a give-and-go play with Camara. Hansen went on to finish with four points, four rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes. He made 2 of 5 shots, but endured plenty of growing pains \u2014 Hansen committed four turnovers and fouled out with 1:35 left, when he was whistled for an illegal screen as the Blazers were clinging to a 117-116 lead.<\/p>\n

THYBULLE SITS WITH INJURY<\/p>\n

In addition to the surprise in the starting lineup, there was a surprise on the injury report. Matisse Thybulle<\/a> did not play in the exhibition opener because of right knee soreness.<\/p>\n

Thybulle missed the start of last season after undergoing a procedure to address right knee inflamation. Then, just as he was on the verge of a return, he suffered a gnarly ankle sprain in practice that sidelined him most of the season. Thybulle finally made his season debut in March and played the final 15 games, averaging 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.9 assists.<\/p>\n

NEXT UP<\/p>\n

The Blazers host the Sacramento Kings on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Moda Center. It will be their first home game of the exhibition season.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chauncey Billups warned earlier this week that there would be \u201cno reason to read into anything\u201d regarding his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-199406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}