Curry out, but Warriors hold off Blazers 113 111

It wasn’t needed, as the shot bounced off the rim and Golden State held off the Portland Trail Blazers 113-111 on Sunday night without Stephen Curry(Pictured). (Photo: Stephen Curry/ Facebook)

PORTLAND, Ore. –Warriors coach Steve Kerr was already thinking of his next play when Evan Turner’s potential go-ahead 3-pointer was in the air.

It wasn’t needed, as the shot bounced off the rim and Golden State held off the Portland Trail Blazers 113-111 on Sunday night without Stephen Curry.

“I was drawing up my play to run at the other end, thinking we were about to be down one,” Kerr said of Turner’s shot with less than a second left. “It looked good from our angle. I was right behind him. The shot was dead on line, it was just a little short.”

Kevin Durant had 33 points and 10 rebounds, while Klay Thompson added 27 points for the Warriors, who have won 10 of their last 11 games. Curry didn’t play because of the stomach flu, missing his first game of the season.

CJ McCollum had 25 points for Portland, which had won its last three. Golden State swept all four games against the Blazers this season.

The Blazers trailed by 10 points to start the fourth quarter. Al-Farouq Aminu’s driving layup tied it at 93, but Portland couldn’t manage to get in front and Thompson’s 3-pointer with 37.5 seconds gave the Warriors a 106-99 lead and appeared to seal it.

But McCollum’s 3-pointer cut it to 109-107 with 17 seconds left, putting the crowd on its feet. After Thompson made two free throws, Turner made a layup to keep Portland’s hopes alive. Thompson again made free throws and Turner dunked.

Durant fouled with 5.5 seconds left to give the ball to Portland, but Turner’s open 3-point attempt was off. Mason Plumlee tried to tip in the rebound but was off, too. Turner finished with 18 points.

“It just fell short, that’s all I can say,” Turner said. “I thought it felt good. It was a corner shot. I was able to get some rhythm off the dribble. It just fell short, then a crazy bounce and I thought Mason would have a chance to tip it in, too. It was just a tough situation.”

Durant joked that he wasn’t going to question the foul call.

“I like my money, so that was an offensive foul and I’ll leave it at that,” he said.

Kerr said Curry was fine after Golden State’s game against the Clippers on Saturday night but woke up ill Sunday morning. Curry is travelling with the team but stayed back at the hotel rather than go to Portland’s Moda Center for the game.

The two-time NBA MVP scored 25 of his 43 points in the third quarter in the Warriors’ 114-98 rout of the Clippers. He made a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to end the first half and made nine 3-pointers.

“Steph wanted to play, and it didn’t make any sense. He was very, very sick and he wanted to tough it out,” Kerr said. “It didn’t make any sense from a personal standpoint for him to play, nor from a team standpoint for him to come into the locker room and get other guys sick. So hopefully he can knock this out in the next few days.”

Shawn Livingston started in Curry’s place.

Durant’s layup gave Golden State a 51-30 lead. Portland responded with a 20-2 run, capped by Damian Lillard’s consecutive 3-pointers and Turner’s reverse layup to pull the Blazers to 53-50 at the half. Durant led all scorers with 15, while McCollum had 14.

With back-to-back 3-pointers from Andre Iguodala, the Warriors stretched their lead to 84-72.

Maurice Harkless’ dunk got the Blazers within 90-86 with 8:52 left.

Portland was without Ed Davis for the fourth straight game because of a left wrist injury.

TIP-INS:

Warriors: Golden State has three 40-point wins this season, matching an NBA record. One of those was a 135-90 victory over the Blazers on Dec. 17. … Curry occasionally posted to Twitter during the game, including a simple “Yessir boys!!!!!” … It was just the second time that the Warriors had swept the Blazers in the series’ 47-year history.

Trail Blazers: The Blazers reassigned Tim Quarterman to the Windy City Bulls of the D-League, joining Jake Layman. … Mason Plumlee had 15 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double, the most by a Blazers player since LaMarcus Aldridge had six in early 2015.

DAME’S MILESTONE

Lillard reached 8,000 career points during the game, becoming the 11th Blazer to hit the mark and joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the last three players to reach 8,000 points and 2,000 assists in their first five seasons.

UP NEXT:

Warriors: Golden State hosts the Hornets on Wednesday night, a day after Charlotte visits Portland.

Trail Blazers: Portland hosts the Hornets on Tuesday night.