On Friday night, Steph Curry returned to action with a 39-point performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, it wasn’t enough to hold on down the stretch against the short-handed Timberwolves. Fast forward to Sunday night in Portland, the Warriors found themselves in a similar situation.
In his second game back after missing time with a quad injury, Curry caught fire again, this time against the Portland Trail Blazers. The All-Star point guad led the Warriors with a sizzling 48-point effort on 16-of-26 shooting from the field with a season-high 12 made 3-pointers to go along with three boards and two assists in 35 minutes.
Yet, despite a special performance from Curry for the second straight game, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Trail Blazers. In another back-and-forth contest, the Warriors came up short down the final stretch of the fourth quarter.
After Steph Curry drilled a triple to give the Warriors a two-point advantage with 1:26 remaining on the clock, Golden State only tallied two more points for the remaining 86 seconds of the game. While the Warriors struggled with missed shots and fouls down the final stretch run of the game, the Blazers outscored the Warriors 9-2 over the final 1:11 to steal the game and spoil Curry’s red-hot performance, 136-131. The Warriors shot 1-of-6 from the field, committed four fouls and one turnover during the final 1:11 of the game.
All five members of Golden State’s starting lineup tallied 11 or more points, along with both Brandin Podziemski and Buddy Hield each notching double-figure scoring numbers off the bench.
After Golden State’s defense didn’t allow over 100 points in four of five games, Steve Kerr’s defense has now allowed 127 and 136 points in back-to-back games.
Curry’s 48-point performance was his 45th 40-point game since turning 30 years old, officially passing NBA legend Michael Jordan for the most 40-point games for players 30 or older. The 37-year-old point guard has tallied four games with 40 or more points this season.
Over his last six games, Curry is averaging 34 points on 52.6% shooting from the field and 45.7% shooting from long distance. The Warriors, however, are 1-5 over that stretch of games.
The Warriors will now get three days off before traveling to Phoenix to meet Devin Booker and the Suns on Thursday evening in the desert.
This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!