Curry-less Warriors lose to Trail Blazers, Cavaliers succumb to Clippers

LOS ANGELES, USA – With Stephen Curry sidelined by a right ankle injury and Andre Iguodala, Jordan Bell and David West also sidelined, Golden State’s Kevin Durant stepped up with a 40-point performance in Portland, but that wasn’t enough to stop the red-hot Trail Blazers.

Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 28 points and Portland won their 9th straight to consolidate their 3rd place in the West ahead of New Orleans — who were beaten 116-97 by the Washington Wizards.

After Golden State’s Klay Thompson connected on a short jump shot to pull the Warriors within 92-91 early in the 4th quarter, Portland produced a 12-2 scoring run to push their lead to double-digits and the Warriors wouldn’t get the deficit below 7 points the rest of the way.

The Warriors saw their 7-game win streak snapped and still await word on when Curry might return after “tweaking” his right ankle on Thursday. Their star point guard will definitely miss Sunday’s game at Minnesota.

The Cleveland Cavaliers also lost on the road, beaten 116-102 by the Clippers in Los Angeles.

LeBron James scored 25 points with 10 rebounds and 6 assists for Cleveland, whose lead over Washington and Indiana for 3rd place in the East is now just half a game.

James also coughed up 5 turnovers to go with 3 blocks and two steals.

DeAndre Jordan was a dominant presence inside as he scored 20 points and pulled down 23 rebounds for the Clippers.

DeAndre Jordan grinds his way to 20 PTS, 23 REB in the @LAClippers win! #ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/zubWMBXjKL

— NBA (@NBA) March 10, 2018

In Milwaukee, Khris Middleton led all scorers with 30 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo chipped in 28 points, 10 rebounds and a superb block of Emmanuel Mudiay’s layup in the 3rd quarter as the Bucks beat the New York Knicks 120-112.

Milwaukee took charge of the contest with a 19-7 scoring run in the 4th quarter and kept themselves in playoff position in the East. – Rappler.com