The Warriors are losing the battle of hustle and that hasn’t faired well for them after the first quarter. The Trailblazers look much more active on the boards, the second chance points giving them the edge so far. They have already amassed 14 rebounds, 6 of them offensive. The Warriors? 6 rebounds TOTAL.
Luckily, the Warriors are shooting a scintillating, for them, 3-4 from the free throw line. Even better? The Warriors have managed to NOT foul their opponents; the Blazers have not taken a foul shot at all.
Stephen Curry’s return was rather ho-hum than ho-ho-ho. Probably still getting his legs back after 2.5 weeks off, Curry sat out early on in the first quarter after 2 points and 3 assists after 6 minutes.
The Warriors are without Andris Biedrins, Dan Gadzuric, and Charlie Bell. As Marcus Thompson Tweets, that leaves Brandan Wright and Ekpe Udoh as the only two bigs off the bench. I guess the Warriors were not so lucky on X-Mas. The Warriors could use Udoh’s hustle.