There was clutch play during clutch time.
There was a vintage Stephen Curry performance.
There was a hopeful return by a pair of injured centers, a fourth quarter eruption by Jerami Grant and a flurry of well-timed defensive stops.
But in a game that seemingly had it all Sunday night, there was, above all else, a gigantic sign of relief.
The reeling Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Golden State Warriors 136-131, surviving a scorching shooting night from Curry and a seesaw finish to end a three-game losing streak before 19,064 at the Moda Center.
“We needed it,” Blazers acting coach Tiago Splitter said of the win. “For the morale, for the job that we’re doing, for the whole squad — from players and coaches to the performance team. Everyone. Everyone is fighting and working every day to get better, to get guys back to the court, to get them playing better. Players are doing extra work, (putting in) extra recovery, extra shooting, to get to this point. So this one is sweet.”
The sweetness started before tipoff, when centers Donovan Clingan and Rob Williams III were cleared to return after missing multiple games with a mix of injuries and illnesses. And the sweetness lingered until the final horn, when Grant clutched the game ball as red and white streamers fell from the rafters.
Toumani Camara called the win a “good team effort” because so many Blazers contributed in so many different ways.
Shaedon Sharpe scored 35 points and looked as healthy as he has in weeks. Clingan (three points, 10 rebounds, three blocks) and Williams (11 points, 11 rebounds, three assists) had solid returns despite playing under a minutes restriction. Sidy Cissoko brought exceptional defense and Caleb Love hit two important threes and recorded the game’s highest plus-minus (plus-16). Camara had the biggest defensive play of the night and Deni Avdija was, well, Deni Avdija, producing 26 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
But it was Grant’s electric fourth quarter that fueled the much-needed victory.
The veteran wing scored 19 of his 35 points in the final period, during which he made 6 of 9 shots, including 4 of 5 three-pointers. He scored eight consecutive points and tossed two alley-oop lobs to Williams during a 14-3 fourth-quarter run that gave the Blazers momentum, then hit multiple crucial shots in the closing minutes to seal the win.
One of the biggest came with 1:11 left, when Grant completed a three-point play to give the Blazers a 130-129 lead, and he followed by making a pair of free throws with 13.2 seconds left to provide a five-point cushion.
“I was getting open shots,” Grant said. “Definitely felt good. I’m going to let it fly regardless.”
Amid all the late-game fireworks, there was also some timely defense. And the biggest stop came on Curry with a potential game-tying shot hanging in the balance.
Out of an inbounds play, with the Warriors trailing 132-129, Draymond Green passed to Curry on the perimeter, seemingly creating a one-on-one chance for the game’s hottest shooter to even things up. But Curry barely had time to collect the pass before Camara and Sharpe blanketed him with a double team.
Curry tried to pass out of the bottleneck, but Camara batted the ball into the air, Sharpe scooped it up and sprinted the other way. Green fouled Sharpe near midcourt with 14.0 seconds left, and he made two free throws to push the Blazers’ lead to 134-129.
“He was having a great game,” Camara said of Curry. “It was one of the last possessions of the game and you don’t want him to take the shot. So when he got the ball coming off the screen, we had to make a play on that.”
It was one of the few times the Blazers’ defense had an answer for the future Hall of Famer, who produced one of his best performances of the season.
Curry scored 48 points and made 12 of 19 three-pointers, including 21 and five, respectively, during a dominant fourth quarter. Throughout it all, Curry shimmied and shaked and even exaggeratedly shook hands with Green, celebrating the most points any player has scored against the Blazers this season.
Far better teams than the Blazers have been buried by a similar eruption over the years. But after playing in so many games with “clutch-time” minutes this season — it was the Blazers’ 16th this season — Portland had a response.
“I think it’s just part of the game,” Grant said. “We know the type of player he is, so you can’t … be demoralized when he goes on runs like that. You’ve just got to stay poised.”
There hasn’t been much poise to the Blazers (10-16) in recent weeks, as injuries destroyed their early-season mojo and sent them to defeats in 11 of the previous 14 games — including a humiliating 23-point loss at lowly New Orleans. Portland played without all three of its point guards and all three of its traditional centers in that defeat, which was fitting for a team that has seen 10 different players miss a combined 133 games this season.
But Clingan and Williams returned against the Warriors (13-14), point guard Jrue Holiday could return as early as this week and the Blazers will play six of their next eight games at home.
So there not only was a gigantic sigh of relief Sunday at the Moda Center, but also a sense that the worst could be in the rearview mirror.
“This says a lot,” Grant said, referring to the Blazers’ resilience. “We knew we needed to win this game, so everybody came ready.”