The Portland Trail Blazers‘ quest to earn a Western Conference play-in berth became more difficult Monday night.

Unsurprisingly, the Blazers lost 130-120 at the Golden State Warriors on the same night the Dallas Mavericks won 133-129 at the San Antonio Spurs.

The 12th-place Blazers now trail the 10th-place Mavericks by five games with 16 remaining.

Portland faced the unenviable task of playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road just two days after returning to the West Coast following a seven-game trip mostly along the East Coast.

The Blazers lost 119-112 Sunday to Detroit, then boarded a plane for California.

Awaiting them was one of the NBA’s hottest teams. The Warriors have now won 12 out of 14 since acquiring Jimmy Butler in a trade with the Miami Heat.

The Warriors came out hot against the Blazers, shooting 53.5% from the field in the first half, including going 12 of 21 from three-point range to lead 68-49 at halftime. That all occurred with Stephen Curry scoring just 10 points.

The Warriors’ bench crew of Gary Payton II, Buddy Hield and Kevon Looney combined for 31 points on 12 of 16 shooting.

The Blazers shot 27.2% from long distance in the first half (5 of 18).

Like on most losing nights, however, the Blazers didn’t go away quietly. They started the third quarter with a 19-7 run that left them down just 75-68. Minutes later, a Duop Reath layup got the Blazers to within 94-90 with 1:42 on the clock.

But the Warriors cranked up the offense again and before the Blazers knew it, they were down 115-98 with 8:47 to go in the game.

Deni Avdija returned from missing two games with a left quad contusion to lead the Blazers with 34 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. Avdija, who also committed six turnovers, shot 11 of 15 from the field and 5 of 7 on threes.

Anfernee Simons scored 32 points on 11 of 21 shooting. Donovan Clingan added 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

As a team, the Blazers ended the night at a strong 48.4% shooting. They shot 42.9% from long distance after going 13 of 24 in the second half.

But the Blazers couldn’t slow the Warriors enough to pull off a win. Golden State shot 52.9% from the field and 51.2% from three-point range (21 of 41).

Curry scored 24. Payton finished with 26. Moody and Heild each scored 20. Butler produced a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (28-38) lost their third consecutive game and fell to 10 games under .500 for the first time since Feb. 20.

The only good news on the night is that 11th-place Phoenix (30-35) lost 120-118 at Memphis. The Suns remain 2½ games ahead of the Blazers.

The Warriors (37-28) gained a half-game lead over Minnesota (37-29) for sixth in the West.

NEXT UP

The Blazers return home for seven games starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday with the New York Knicks (40-23)

— Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)