SAN FRANCISCO– The Golden State Warriors felt good coming back home to the Bay after surviving an arduous six-game road trip, especially with five straight home games and far more rest in between games than they've had all season. But the flow they found in San Antonio, the good vibes and effort they rediscovered on the road that Steve Kerr and company believed they found on the road, all came to a screeching halt thanks to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The struggling 6-9 Blazers, missing Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe, handed the Dubs their ninth loss of the season in a high-scoring 127-123 affair. In a game where Stephen Curry collected 38 points on nine made threes and Jimmy Butler and Brandin Podziemski added 20 points each, Golden State was undone by a series of defensive lapses.

“We played well enough to win, but nothing to show for it,” Curry said after the game. “Some untimely defensive breakdowns that led to some open threes down the stretch. Couldn't get a rebound. Defensively, we didn't as a unit do enough to give ourselves a chance.”

Portland dominated Golden State on the glass 52-32 as the Dubs surrendered 21 offensive rebounds and 28 second-chance points.

“That was the game,” Kerr said, pointing to the Blazers' bludgeoning them on the boards. “A lot of them turned into threes. A couple of Caleb Love's threes. Offensive boards, 28-10 second chance points. They are an athletic team. A couple of their guys are super athletic. They crash, and they put a lot of pressure on us. That was the difference.”

The other difference was Deni Avdija, who finished with 26 points and 14 assists. A series of straight-line drives from Avdija late in the fourth quarter collapsed the Warriors' defense over and over again. Those breakdowns allowed Avdija to find Love for two dagger threes in the final two minutes. The undrafted rookie collected a career-high 26 points on six made threes.

Defensive inconsistencies remain the only consistency

Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) drives with the ball against Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski (2) during the first quarter at Chase Center.
Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

The story of Golden State this season has been inconsistency. In games, when the defense thrives, it's the offense that fails them. On nights like these, when the offense puts things together, it's the defense that falters. When they finally win the turnover battle, they'll get pounded on the glass.

But the defensive lapses in particular are becoming a worrying trend. That was the root of their problems in the string of losses to the Bucks, Pacers, and Thunder. At the time, the Warriors cited a lack of effort and needing to take pride on that end of the floor, which they seemed to have fixed in the three wins against the Spurs twice and the Pelicans. Even in a glass-half-full way after the Magic and Miami losses, Golden State seemed confident in its effort and intensity.

But now, after a bad loss to a struggling and injured Blazers, it's hard not to believe “defensive inconsistency” won't linger.

“We're just not guarding anybody,” Butler said after the game. “From what I can tell, I haven’t been here long, but that’s never been the formula here. To win a championship, you have to take each and every matchup personal. Yeah, the help is going to be there but we got to do way better on that side of the ball.”

To make his point, Butler emphasized to how the Warriors' defense couldn't take anything away from the Blazers' offensive plan, which usually bodes disaster for any team's chances of success defensively. On the season, Golden State boasts some below average defensive metrics. They rank 23rd in the league in rebounding percentage (48.2%) and 20th in opponent field goal percentage (47.2%). However, they still rank 10th in defensive rating (112.2) and 5th in opponent turnovers per game (16.9).

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For Curry, he pointed to the Dubs' gameplan discipline, or lack thereof.

“I think we've had some bright spots in some games that have shown that we can do it for 48 minutes,” Curry said. “We have had some duds, even tonight we had some ebbs and flows. We have the answers; we just have reminders that you have to fly around, be on a string, not have mental errors when you are letting guys get to their strong hand, game plan, discipline-type stuff. I think that we struggle with that part, especially tonight, letting guys just drive right out of the paint, and we have to put pressure on our bigs to figure out if they are going to guard the rim or guard the ball. Stuff like that over the course of the game, you start chasing a little bit.”

Optimism for the Warriors defense moving forward

Despite the defensive lapses, Kerr was not too concerned with the state of the Warriors' defense. However, he was honest about potentially needing to play more two-big lineups with bigger teams on the horizon, like the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in the coming games. That'll mean more minutes for Quinten Post and potentially third-string center Trayce Jackson-Davis.

The Warriors would certainly love to play Al Horford next to Draymond Green more often, but the 39-year-old center picked up a right hamstring strain midway through this game.

As for Butler, despite sounding down on the Dubs' defense after the loss, he remains hopeful about the Warriors' defense.

“I'm always optimistic. But I'm also honest and a truth-teller,” Butler said when asked if he felt like the defense had taken a step back after the subpar performance.

“We can beat individuals on some nights when we're scoring the basketball. But you can't always bank on shots going in for whatever reason why. You always have to be able to guard. Until we get back to that– to guarding and taking when people score on us personally, we'll be in a funk for a while. But I think we can snap out of it. We finna practice too. Get some close-out drills, play some one-on-one. See who got what.”

Golden State will get two days off at home for the first time in a long time. They'll look to reorganize the defense before they face the Utah Jazz on Monday.