NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking Points as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors in overtime

The Portland Trail Blazers won a hard-fought battle against the defending champs Golden State Warriors with a final scoreline of 110-109.

They played gritty, they played hard, and they made sure that they didn’t give Golden State any chances to capitalise on their offensive arsenal, and take the game away from their hands.

On the other hand, Golden State’s struggles continue as they try to find the right match to involve their superstars, and get them back into top form.

With this win, the Portland Trail Blazers are now ranked 6th in the Western Conference with a record of 20-15, while the Warriors dropped from 1st spot to 2nd in the West with a record of 23-13.

With all that in mind, here are the top 3 points from this match -

#3 Free throw problems for Golden State

The Warriors are the 2nd best free throw shooting team in the league. They shoot well over 80% from the charity stripe. But today was not the day for them from the line. They often looked lost and it didn't look like they wanted to make those shots.

They took 15 free throws and made only 6 of them. This haunted them later in the game, when they had to go into overtime and lose a heart wrenching game by just a single point.

On the other hand, the Trail Blazers took care of the basics well and shot 21 of their total 23 free throws. They’re also one of the best teams from the stripe as they’re ranked 3rd just behind Golden State.

The Warriors took things too easy from the beginning and forgot about the basics, the fundamentals of the game, such as shooting well from the free throw line.