From the opening tip, Klay Thompson took over Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals and the Warriors never looked back, cruising to a 118-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
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The Warriors led 37-17 after the first frame, and the Trail Blazers never got the gap under nine points from there.
“Everything has to be racheted up”, said Green, who posted his second career postseason triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the defending champions.
Oakland native and Blazers point guard Damian Lillard struggled, misfiring on 18 of 26 shots, as did his backcourt mate, second-year guard C.J. McCollum (five of 17 shooting).
“It just depends how his week goes”, Kerr said of Curry’s status for Saturday’s Game 3. Watch Warriors vs Trail Blazers online free live streaming on ABC Sports TV and Watch ESPN3 this afternoon to find out.
Steve Kerr’s team has showed the National Basketball Association that they are not a one-man team. With Thompson hitting seven threes for the third game in a row, it’s not like Golden State is lacking in shooters.
“It was a tough decision, but I didn’t have to sleep on it because I already kind of thought it out”, said Walton, who addressed the media Saturday for the first time since being hired by the Lakers. During their four games against the Blazers, they allowed an insane 46.3 percent from distance.
Gerald Henderson and Anderson Varejao found themselves involved in two separate verbal confrontations on the court, both of which resulted in double-technicals and subsequently both were ejected.
With Curry missing, their offence has been known to become inconsistent at best, although that wasn’t the case for the most part in the fifth game against Houston.
Lillard wasn’t surprised Golden State didn’t miss a beat without Curry in action. In this one, they held Portland to 40.2% shooting overall while winning the battle of the boards 55-40 (Green, Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut combined for 37 rebounds).
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When the Trail Blazers attempted to go inside 213cm tall Australian centre Bogut was waiting, intimidating or swatting away shots. Allen Crabbe provided a spark with 15 points off the bench. The Warriors’ 20-point lead after the first was their largest for the initial period during the playoffs for the shot-clock era. Golden State is 4-0 at home during these playoffs….
