SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry scored 22 points and moved within nine 3-pointers of tying Ray Allen’s career record, and the Golden State Warriors held off the injury-depleted Portland Trail Blazers 104-94 Wednesday night.
The reigning NBA scoring champion shot 6 of 17 from beyond the arc, missing his initial four 3-point tries before connecting at the 5:55 mark of the first quarter. Curry went 4 of 12 in the first half as Golden State held a 47-45 edge at the break.
Norman Powell scored 26 points but went 1 of 7 from deep, and the Blazers were just 8 for 30 from long range. Star guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum sat out because of injuries.
“Strange,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “I don’t think we’ve ever faced Portland without both of them, so they’re in a tough space right now.”
Curry is closing in on Allen’s mark of 2,973 regular-season 3s made from 1996-2014.
Kerr fully expected Curry to shoot as many times as he could from deep to try to get this done for the home fans at Chase Center before the team hits the road for five games.
“I feel like it will be special no matter what because I’ll make it special and it will be an amazing experience for me and my teammates,” Curry said this week.
Draymond Green had 10 rebounds, eight asissts and five points, and Jordan Poole scored eight of his 20 points in the third quarter as Golden State started to pull away.
Jusuf Nurkic had 12 points, 13 rebounds and six assists before fouling out late. Nassir Little scored 18 points for the Blazers, making all five of his first-half shots.
Earlier in the day, Lillard reiterated he doesn’t want to be traded by the Blazers.
“It’s the truth,” he said while heading into the locker room after warmups.
Not that anyone was surprised he still feels so strongly about staying put with Portland.
“He’s said it numerous times,” coach Chauncey Billups said. “He’s a Trail Blazer, period. He doesn’t want to go anywhere, he’s not going anywhere. He believes in what we’re doing here. That says a lot, because we’ve been going through a ton, on the floor and off the floor, we’ve been going through it a little bit. He’s the type of player and superstar that every team wants to have. … I thought it was beautiful.”
Billups noted that the moment Curry crosses midcourt “he’s got a bullseye on him” as a threat to shoot.
“I just think he’s just the greatest combo guard to ever play the game,” Billups said.
