About halfway through the fourth quarter the Blazers were trailing the by 9 points, 93 to 102.  The Blazers then went off, going on a 17-3 run to close the game and come away with a 5 point win.  The craziest thing is that the Blazers did this with Brandon Roy scoring 3 points in the 4th quarter (granted he did score 38 in the first 3).  Let’s take a closer look at this run:

Possession 1 – Blazers Steal

After Portland made a couple free throws to cut the lead to 6 points, they dropped back into a zone defense.  It isn’t a straight up zone though, as it appears to be more of a match-up zone.  If you watch Blazers’ players as the Warriors make cuts, you can see the Blazers “handing off” players, making sure everyone knows where they need to be.  You can tell the Warriors look a little confused, and because of that they aren’t in sync.  The pass to the middle is late, allowing for the defense to get their hand on the ball and get the steal.  3-0.

Possession 2 – Transition Three For Rudy Fernandez

Continuing from the play above, the ball ends up into Andre Miller’s hands and he pushes it down the court.  Fernandez runs with Miller, filling the lane and spotting up for the three.  Since Andre Miller has shown the ability to get into the paint, he is able to draw the man responsible for Fernandez, getting him the open look.  6-0.

Possession 3 - Stephen Curry Missed Three

This match-up zone that the Blazers were running really gave the Warriors a ton of trouble the final 6 minutes of the game.  Up until this point, the Warriors were getting into the lane whenever they wanted, whether it was in transition or in the half court.  Right before this play, Stephen Curry tried to drive the lane and throw a kick-out pass.  It was deflected out of bounds.  It really had an effect on him, because the next time he caught the ball, he pulled and shot a bad three.  He had no interest in trying to get into the paint. 6-0.

Possession 4 – Rudy Fernandez Three In The Half Court

Shooters like Rudy Fernandez just need to see the basketball go in once and they are in a rhythm.  Here, Andre Miller once again uses his size to get into the paint, and when he does so, he gets attention from help defenders.  As Miller posts up, Anthony Morrow, the man defending Fernadez, sprints into the paint.  Fernandez does a great job of sliding into an open space and giving Andre Miller a lane for the pass.  Miller make a great pass and hits Fernandez for the wide open three.  Just like that, the game is tied.  9-0.

Possession 5 – Anthony Morrow Missed Three

After Fernandez’s three pointer, both teams exchanged some pretty bad possession and for about 2 minutes the only point that was scored was a LaMarcus Aldridge free throw.  After an offensive foul from Aldridge, the Warriors had a chance to get a go-ahead basket:

The Warriors don’t take advantage of it though.  Once again, it is just two passes around the perimeter, and a three pointer.  There is actually a missed assignment here by the Blazers as Reggie Williams cut into the lane uncovered, but Anthony Morrow doesn’t even look inside and jacks up a three.  So it has been around 4 minutes since the Blazers started playing there zone, and there hasn’t been 1 meaningful bounce of the basketball inside the lane.  10-0.

Possession 6 – Monta Ellis’ 6th Foul

The reason that previous missed three was so important is because Andre Miller grabs the rebound and pushes it down the court.  Again, he goes inside against a smaller Warriors guard (this time it is Monta Ellis).  As Ellis tries to body Miller up, he picks up a foul, his 6th of the game.  So now on of the few Warriors willing to attack the basket and try to get into the lane has fouled out.  Miller hit both foul shots that resulted from the foul as well.  12-0.

Possession 7 – Another Missed Three For The Warriors

Even after all of the poor possessions on both ends of the court for the Warriors, they are still only down three points.  Here, the Warriors actually get a good look.  They use dribble penetration to suck in the Blazers’ defense and then kick it out to Steph Curry for the open three pointer.  He just can’t knock it down.  This shows you have effective attacking the basket can be.  It is a shame this is the only time they decided to do it.  12-0.

Possession 8 – Forced Jumper

After Curry’s missed three, the Warriors get a stop on the defensive end and bring the ball up still down three.  A good possession can get them right back into the game.  That doesn’t happen though.  C.J. Watson gets the ball to start the offense in the half court.  He dribbles it to the wing and wants to swing it back to Steph Curry, however, the Blazers switch things up and deny him.  Watson panics, uses a screen (that the Blazers switch because of their match-up zone), takes the ball to the elbow and shots a contested jumper with 13 seconds left on the shot clock.  At this point of the game, this is your biggest possession and the Warriors don’t even pass the ball…once…now if it was in your best players hand, it might be understandable.  Watson is your 4th or 5th option on offense though, so that isn’t what you want.  Credit Portland for their defense here, but this is such a poor decision by C.J. Watson.  12-0.

Possession 9 – LaMarcus Aldridge’s And 1

Coming off of Watson’s miss, the Blazers decide to flatten it out (put four players along the baseline with one ballhandler) with the ball in Roy’s hands.  The main purpose here it to kill some clock (as he dribbles the shot-clock down to 10), but they are also looking for Roy to create, and that is exactly what he does.  He penetrates to the right, forces help to come and kicks the ball out to Andre Miller.  The closeout comes too hard at Miller, giving him the baseline.  He takes it, forces help to come, and finds an open LaMarcus Aldridge who finishes with the foul.  15-0.

Possession 10 – Blazers Offensive Rebound

After Steph Curry hits a three to cut the Blazers’ lead down to three points, the Blazers have the ball with about 48 seconds left:

The Warriors, not needing to foul, play straight up defense here, and they actually get the shot they want.  As Roy drives (from the same flat set), the Warriors force him to kick it out to Aldridge for the baseline jumper.  He misses it, but the Warriors are unable to secure the rebound.  At first look, it seems like just a bad bounce for the Warriors, but I disagree with that.  The Warriors are in the correct position for the rebound, but watch them as the ball goes up.  Nobody is putting a body on any Blazer, they just stand waiting to try and time their jump.  With the Blazers being bigger than the Warriors, they are able to get a hand on it and the corral the ball.  15-3.

Possession 11 – Silly Foul From Watson

After the Blazers get the ball back in their possession, there is a three second differential between the shot-clock and the game clock.  When you are in this situation, you have to decide whether you are going to foul and extend the game, or hope to get a stop, call a timeout (the Warriors did in fact have one), advance the ball to half-court, and try to get a three.  For most of the possession, it seems that Watson is going to be content to let Andre Miller dribble out the clock, but for some unknown reason, he gambles and tries to get a steal, fouling Miller in the process.  Watson let 19 seconds run of the clock, and then fouled.  He probably thought he could get the steal, but if you look at it from the second angle, there wasn’t really any opening to try and do that.  Not smart at all.  As Miller makes both free throws, he clinches the game for the Blazers, who got their first win in a long time at Golden State.  17-3.