Forty-three minutes is a perfectly reasonable workload if the goal is to make a preseason game feel suspiciously like a tax audit. Dalen Terry played all of them for Golden State on Wednesday, producing 23 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals in a 123-118 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center.
The important part for the Warriors is less the gaudy line than the question behind it: Can Terry handle expanded creation responsibilities when circumstances demand them? The answer from this exhibition is promising enough to continue testing, and messy enough to resist turning him into a full-time point guard by sunrise.
Golden State had only nine active players. Several established players were given the night off, leaving Terry with an unusually large share of the ball and the game’s administrative burden. He responded with 9-for-18 shooting, made four of five 3-pointers and helped the Warriors make 19 of 34 from deep as a team.
That is genuine productivity, especially in a game that also featured Portland starters Damian Lillard and Ja Morant.
Terry’s value came from filling several columns at once. The rebounds mattered because a short-handed lineup cannot afford to outsource every possession after a miss. The nine assists showed that his expanded role was more than a scoring audition. Four steals added defensive playmaking, the sort of contribution that can keep a player useful even when his offensive decisions are still being sorted.
But the same line also contains the reason for caution. Four turnovers are not a fatal mark in a 43-minute exhibition, particularly for a player asked to organize so much offense. They do show where the evaluation remains unfinished.
Terry’s job was not simply to get the ball across half court; it was to decide when to attack, when to move it and when a difficult pass was no longer worth attempting.
The final possession supplied an especially neat footnote. With 0.7 seconds left and Portland ahead 123-118, Terry committed a bad-pass turnover that ended the game. That play did not decide the result, and it should not erase the nine assists preceding it.
It did, however, provide a clean example of the difference between having point-guard responsibilities and establishing yourself as a point guard. One exhibition can show the former without proving the latter.
The Warriors’ offense also had enough support to keep Terry’s night from becoming a one-man rescue exercise. Charles Bassey scored 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting while adding six rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Will Richard made all three of his 3-point attempts and all six free throws for 15 points.
