The only thing the Golden State Warriors needed from Stephen Curry in Game 1 against the Trail Blazers was his animated celebration whenever they forced yet another Portland timeout.
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Klay Thompson came out on fire and Portland trailed the defending champs wire-to-wire as the Warriors put a Game 1 shellacking on the Blazers 118-106 in Oakland. Draymond Green was the other big scorer, finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, and three blocks. “I just told the guys that we’ve got to come out with a defensive mindset”. Although becoming the first player in National Basketball Association history to hit seven or more 3-pointers in three straight playoff games is special considering nobody had done back-to-back games prior to Klay.
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. Lillard got hot for a few minutes in the fourth quarter, but he struggled to score driving to the basket when unable to draw fouls.
Thompson drained a three-pointer 17 seconds into the contest and the Warriors rolled from there in front of their home fans in Oakland, California. He said Friday that he hoped to do some shooting within a day or two.
When Curry was diagnosed with the MCL sprain, the Warriors said he would be re-evaluated in two weeks. Then 27 more assists Sunday. “They’re going to make shots, we can’t get discouraged by that, but every possession matters when you play a team like that”.
After a poor shooting first quarter, the Trail Blazers would begin to find their stroke in the second quarter behind a strong bench performance. “Our guys have an understanding of how we have to play without Steph”.
Green, Bogut and Varejao combined for seven blocked shots, and four steals, which prevented at least 14 points, and as much as 12 more on the takeaways. The Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, albeit without the full services of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. That shooting excellence didn’t exist in Game 1 and a lot of it had to do with how the Warriors’ size took away good opportunities from the Blazers’ dynamic backcourt. This time, it was Plumlee with one foot in the paint as McCollum tried to fight through a Bogut pick. Harrison Barnes was one of the top rebounders in the game, but it makes sense when you see the ways in which the Blazers tried to go small to match what the Warriors are capable of doing.
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. Lillard and his Blazers ran into Klay Thompson.
Even without the MVP, the Warriors controled Houston to close the first round and only turned up the defensive engine power to start Round 2.
The Warriors are not stacking enough playoff blowouts to punch a hole through the ceiling of Oracle Arena despite the absence of Stephen Curry.
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Walton served as the Warriors’ interim head coach at the start of this season and led the team to a 39-4 record, including an NBA-record 24-0 start, before coach Steve Kerr returned after recovering from back surgery. Their attack wasn’t point guard-centric, but the same ball movement we typically see was there, which forced Portland into making tough choices on where to focus its defense. Thompson has made 52 percent of his catch-and-shoot jumpers (51 percent from 3-point range) this postseason, and 21 percent of his jumpers off the dribble (20 percent on 3-pointers).
