SAN FRANCISCO – The NBA preseason is a learning experience for youngsters and veterans alike, and the Warriors will have plenty of positives and negatives to review after what turned into a wild 129-123 win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Chase Center.
Behind the 3-point prowess of Quinten Post (20 points) and LJ Cryer (14 points), and rookie Will Richard’s constant activity, the Warriors rallied for a spirited comeback where they outscored the Blazers 51-26 in the fourth quarter.
Steph Curry in his one half of action played 16 minutes and scored 11 points, going 3 of 7 overall and 2 of 5 on threes. Draymond Green also played 16 minutes, and also hit a pair of threes on his way to nine points. Jimmy Butler was the leading scorer of the three, and the only to have a positive plus/minus.
Butler, a plus-3 in 17 minutes, scored 12 points to go with two rebounds, three assists and two steals. He was 3 of 6 from the field, and 6 of 8 on free throws.
The Warriors again play the Blazers in the preseason next Tuesday, as well as the third game of the 2025-26 NBA regular season in what will be the second night of a back-to-back.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ second win to start their five-game preseason schedule.
Horford Gets Starting Nod
After opening the preseason with a small-ball lineup in the Warriors’ first game, coach Steve Kerr switched gears and went big against the Blazers. Al Horford moved into the starting lineup, with the real decision being Moses Moody staying and Brandin Podziemski coming off the bench. Horford and Moody accompanied Curry, Butler and Green.
“Al gives us the ability to play bigger with shooting,” Kerr explained at his pregame press conference. “Portland’s got a pretty big team and I would anticipate they’ll start [Donovan] Clingan. I think I mentioned last game, I don’t want to throw Draymond out there constantly against these big centers. So this is a good night to take a look at that lineup and see what we do.”
The Warriors trailed 18-15 when Kerr first turned to his bench, replacing Moody and Horford with Buddy Hield and Post with a little more than five minutes left in the first quarter. Moody blocked two shots in the first minute, and Horford already had two rebounds and one assist. He should have had two assists by then if Moody would have converted an open layup.
But Horford’s first assist was an eye-opening dime. The 39-year-old center grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast, finding Butler in transition for an easy layup at the rim.
The starters didn’t play together again all night. Like the preseason opener, Curry, Butler, Green and Horford all sat the second half. Horford was scoreless in 11 minutes while missing his four shot attempts. Moody didn’t start the second half and was a minus-10 in 20 minutes, scoring 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Second Unit Struggles
Once Kerr turned to his bench, the game flipped in favor of the Blazers. The Warriors used a 10-man rotation in the first quarter, using Podziemski, Hield, Post, Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II off the bench. That unit lost its run 19-4 in the first quarter alone.
The Blazers’ bench outscored the Warriors’ reserves 18-7 in the first quarter, and Portland went on a 13-0 run to hold a 14-point 39-25 lead going into the second quarter.
By halftime, the Warriors were losing the bench battle 25-20. All of the Warriors’ bench players had a negative plus/minus, and Deni Avdija, who was up to 13 points, was the lone Blazers bench player in the negative.
Seth Curry eventually will be an option off the bench for Kerr, and should at least provide more outside shooting. Curry “is still ramping up,” per Kerr, and has yet to play in the preseason. He will be waived by Oct. 18 and is eligible to be re-signed starting Nov. 11.
Podziemski and Kuminga each were a game-low minus-17.
Defensive Work In Progress
If Toumani Camara starts making threes like he did against the Warriors, the rest of the league could have a problem on its hands. The Second Team All-Defensive selection from last season was part of the reason the Warriors were buried from long distance on their home court.
Camara went 4 of 7 from 3-point range in the first half before missing his two attempts in the second half. Shaedon Sharpe also was 4 of 7 beyond the arc in the first half as the Blazers went 12 of 28 on threes through the first two quarters. The Warriors were losing the long distance battle, and were being beaten by speed.
Most of the Blazers’ threes were open shots, and the Warriors were late to rotate. The Blazers shot 46.3 percent in the first half, including a 42.9 3-point percentage. The Warriors also only had two steals compared to six by the Blazers going into halftime, and they turned the ball over three times more than them – 12 to three.
Effort and resiliency from the back of the bench deserves tons of positivity. First, the defensive miscues will have to be cleaned up ahead of Sunday’s game in LA against the Lakers.
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