Al Horford’s shot map from Friday night was almost comically simple: five made field goals, all five from 3-point range. The veteran center did not score inside, at the foul line or on a midrange jumper.
He worked from 25 to 28 feet, missed three other attempts from deep and still finished with 15 points in 15 minutes as Golden State beat Portland 128-118 at Chase Center.
The appealing part was what Horford supplied alongside the other scorers. Stephen Curry scored 20 points but made only 3 of 11 3-pointers. The Warriors still reached 128 because the supporting cast supplied enough offense to keep a merely ordinary Curry shooting night from becoming an emergency.
That is a preseason argument worth taking seriously, even if it is not yet a season-long solution.
Horford changed the shape of the offense
Horford’s first two makes arrived late in the opening quarter. With 57.9 seconds left, Yaxel Lendeborg found him for a 26-footer. Thirty seconds later, Brandin Podziemski assisted on a 27-footer that put Golden State ahead 35-26 at the quarter break.
Horford added two more 3-pointers in the second quarter. Lendeborg supplied the assist on a 27-footer with 4:39 left, then Gui Santos found him for another from the same distance 64 seconds later. His fifth came in the third, a 25-footer assisted by Lendeborg with 2:36 remaining.
The sequence matters because Horford was more than a lucky passenger in the box score. He attempted eight shots and made five, giving Golden State another frontcourt player willing to take a meaningful share of the perimeter offense. That can make possessions less dependent on Curry manufacturing a difficult attempt, though one preseason outing cannot establish how consistently that spacing will hold against regular-season defenses.
There were complications. Horford committed two offensive fouls and turned the ball over twice. His shot-making was genuine, but it arrived alongside the ordinary messiness of a short exhibition stint.
The bench supplied the margin
Golden State’s reserves outscored Portland’s bench 61-47. That 14-point edge exceeded the 10-point final margin, and it came from several contributors rather than one player trying to impersonate Curry.
Georges Niang scored 13 points, made two of six threes and went 5-for-5 at the line. Gary Payton II added eight points on 4-for-6 shooting, four rebounds and a steal. De’Anthony Melton contributed seven points, made four of five free throws and collected two steals. Gui Santos scored seven, while Horford provided the clearest shooting punctuation.
The broader balance extended beyond the reserves. Lendeborg finished with 17 points, five assists and a 6-for-9 shooting line, including 2-for-3 from deep. Draymond Green scored seven points but had 10 assists and eight rebounds, helping the Warriors move the ball rather than asking Curry to solve every possession. Golden State finished with 29 assists and shot 49% from the field.
That distribution showed up on the scoreboard. The Warriors led 67-58 at halftime and stretched the advantage to 105-91 after three quarters. Portland won the fourth quarter 27-23, but Golden State had already built enough separation that Curry did not need to turn the finish into a personal rescue mission.
There is a danger in admiring the supporting cast too quickly. Curry still contributed 20 points despite the 3-for-11 night, and the Warriors’ 18-for-44 performance from three is not a guaranteed nightly formula. Podziemski made 3 of 7 threes and scored 17 points, while Lendeborg’s efficient outing came in 26 minutes. Those are useful contributions, not established baselines.
Portland also won the fourth and finished with 48 points in the paint. Golden State’s offense had enough variety to absorb a cooler Curry night, but the final period was hardly a defensive lockdown.
So Horford’s five threes should be read as an option rather than a verdict. Golden State did not need Curry to be brilliant because Horford, the bench and a well-distributed passing night covered the gap. The next time Curry misses a string of threes, Golden State has another place to look. Horford spent Friday making that option difficult to overlook.
Sources
ESPN: box score and play-by-play
