Trail Blazers falter in 4th quarter, lose 110-106 at Golden State Warriors

The Portland Trail Blazers had Anfernee Simons in the lineup for the first time in six weeks but had to face the Golden State Warriors without Deandre Ayton and Jerami Grant.

Then they lost Malcolm Brogdon in the second quarter.

Despite the absence of three key veterans, the Blazers’ young lineup led by Simons outplayed the Warriors for most of the game and went up 98-92 midway through the fourth quarter.

But from that point on, the Warriors owned the night and held on to win 110-106 at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Still, Blazers coach Chauncey Billups appeared pleased with his team’s performance, all things considered.

“We played a great game,” Billups told reporters. “I’m proud and happy for us. We played a really good game, came up short.”

The Blazers gave up 62 points in the second half and lost the fourth quarter 28-20.

Simons led the Blazers with 28 points on 10-of-27 shooting while making 6 of 12 three-pointers. He said he felt good, in shape and confident, but also thought the team was a bit out of sync.

“Just trying to find our rhythm back,” Simons told reporters. “I think there’s going to be a little adjustment period with me coming back. You could tell that in the fourth quarter we didn’t have that cohesiveness with what we wanted to do. We’ll just figure that out the next couple of games.”

Shaedon Sharpe started at small forward and scored 26 points with six rebounds and five assists.

“Shaedon is developing fast,” Billups said. “He’s starting to see the game and see what’s going on out there. He’s making better reads, most nights. His defense has gotten better.”

The Warriors committed eight turnovers in the first quarter and watched Stephen Curry go 1 of 8 from the field in the first half while he and Klay Thompson combined to go 1 of 10 on threes.

That level of dysfunction allowed the Blazers to build a 55-48 halftime lead.

That changed in the second half, when Curry scored 17 points to finish with 31.

The Blazers controlled much of the game until the final six minutes of the fourth quarter. The Blazers ultimately shot just 36.8% in the fourth, while the Warriors continuously got inside for baskets, finishing with 16 points in the paint for the quarter and 46 for the game.

A big key in the defeat were the lopsided personal fouls. The Blazers committed 30 fouls that led to the Warriors shooting 28 of 33 on free throws. The Warriors committed 19 fouls that the Blazers used to make 12 of 16 free throws.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (6-14) lost an opportunity to pick up their fifth win in seven games, but it’s difficult to find fault in losing at the Warriors (10-11) while missing three starters, even with Simons returning. The Blazers have been at full strength for only part of one game this season before Simons injured his thumb. The way the team is playing right now, when fully healthy, the Blazers could become a nightly problem for most teams.

BROGDON, AYTON AND GRANT

Ayton was listed as doubtful on Tuesday and then downgraded to being unavailable before the game. Grant is in concussion protocol after sustaining a concussion Saturday at Utah.

In the second quarter, Brogdon joined them on the bench with right knee soreness. He played over 12 minutes, missed all three of his shots and finished with zero points.

“We were so short in numbers,” Billups said. “Not having basically three starters … it was tough.”

Duop Reath started in place of Ayton and scored 10 points with six rebounds. Jabari Walker backed up both him and Camara, who started at power forward in place of Grant. Camara had six points with 13 rebounds. Walker put up 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

“I thought both guys played well,” Billups said. “Duop was good. He provided some good shot-making for us, but he’s rolling, making good plays. He’s just a good basketball player. And then Bari, as well. Bari is a scrapper, man. He’s a Scrapper. He’s gonna get in there, he’s gonna mix it up. I thought defensively he did a good job. Offensively, I thought he was doing a good job. They was kind of blitzing Ant a lot, or playing at the level, (Walker) did a good job being a secondary playmaker.”

NEXT UP

The Blazers return home for a 7 p.m. game Friday against the Dallas Mavericks (12-8).

-- Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)

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