Stephen Curry didn’t play Sunday when his Golden State Warriors opened their second-round National Basketball Association playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers at Oracle Arena.
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It was the Warriors’ third postseason win without Curry in which they combined to score 54 more points than the competition.
If McCollum and Lillard do not play efficient basketball, there is nearly zero chance the Trail Blazers win this game on the road.
Meanwhile, Thompson has four inches on McCollum and the choreography of the Warriors’ half-court offense finds him all the space he needs. After C.J. McCollum made a running floater, Draymond Green and Thompson drained back-to-back three-pointers to give Golden State their largest lead of the entire day at 87-61 with 3:44 remaining in the quarter.
“I came out saying I need to do whatever it takes to help our team get a win”, he said. “Certainly wasn’t the start we wanted”.
“It’s a big burden to have to play both ways like that”, Kerr said. Obviously I’d like to be out there with them and I feel like we’re a better team when I’m out there, but the way that they play and the way they have that confidence and swagger about them, it’s fun to watch.
Hornets guard Kemba Walker scored just nine points on three-of-16 shooting and had three turnovers.
With Mason Plumlee going up for a one-handed dunk late in the first quarter, Andrew Bogut blocked the shot, then got a hand up to bother Al-Farouq Aminu’s putback attempt. His first-half block of a driving Lillard was perhaps the defensive play of the game, but he had one almost as good against Plumlee in the second half, when the burly Portland center tried to post him up and Green not only wouldn’t be backed in, he wound up ripping the ball out of Plumlee’s hands for a steal.
These teams had reached the playoffs the same year eight times previously without matching up in the postseason – 1977, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2014 and 2015.
“There are guys who can guard multiple positions and are the same size”, Trail Blazers swingman Gerald Henderson said. Thompson hit a layup to push the lead to 14-4 at the 7:31 mark. Allen Crabbe provided a spark with 15 points off the bench. Golden State is 4-0 at home during these playoffs.
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In the meantime, Curry said, he’s confident his teammates can keep the Warriors’ bid for a second straight title – to cap a record-setting 73-win season – going. Through their first seven quarters without Curry, Golden State had outscored its opponents by 80 points. The Warriors’ starting unit showed the difference in being a surprise team exceeding expectations to get to the second round (no disrespect to Portland either, which has been a great story since January), and being a team set on a collision course with the Spurs for a historic playoff showdown.
