The Golden State Warriors were down, but refused to be beaten with guard Klay Thompson and forward Draymond Green leading a dramatic comeback against the Portland Trailblazers.
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By the end of a fourth quarter that saw the Warriors outscore the Blazers 34-12 there were flaming particles of smashed pumpkin everywhere, all that remained of Portland’s valiant attempt to steal a road victory in Oracle.
Coming off a gentleman’s sweep of the Houston Rockets in a first round series where Curry played a grand total of 39 minutes, the Dubs faced a tougher opponent in the Western Conference semifinals. A Thompson 3-pointer at the 5:33 mark gave the Warriors their first lead of the game. The Trail Blazers managed to cut the Warriors’ lead to single digits on numerous occasions before the half but were never able to keep the deficit in check for more than a possession or two, allowing the home team to take a 14-point lead into the intermission. Through the first three quarters of Game 1, Lillard had 12 points on 3-for-17 shooting and McCollum had six points on 2-for-10 from the field.
Now, the Warriors hold a commanding 2-0 series lead, which is the same deficit the Trail Blazers found themselves in against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the stars of act one, were again terrific for Golden State.
More players. No matter how many impact-capable players you have, they have more.
And then the fourth quarter happened.
Lillard hit six 3-pointers and had a team-high six assists.
Green’s timeout signal immediately reminded me of another epic Portland collapse – this one in Game 7 against the Lakers in the 2000 playoffs. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum shot a combined 13-43 in Game 1 and grabbed a total of 3 rebounds.
Three others reached double figures for the Blazers.
“They became the championship team, and we started to kind of do things that wasn’t going to give us a chance to win the game”. We’ve got to close it out. “They’re the kind of team, they’re going to stay with it. They’ve got such great shot-makers, they’re always going to be on your tail, so our defense has to be locked in for 48 minutes”.
Any lack of pregame pleasantries aside, the Blazers fully understand they can’t afford another slow start after falling behind 37-17 after the first period, which Kerr called “a handsome quarter”.
This, we have known about the Warriors throughout these giddy 18 months, but to show it with Curry playing less than half as many minutes as Marreese Speights reminds any folks who like to gin up drama that the Warriors without Curry are… well, a lot like the Warriors with Curry. In Game 2, not so much as Bogut’s legs seemed to lack their usual spring. But just they’re much more aggressive.
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It was tighter in Toronto, where Goran Dragic scored 26 points and Dwyane Wade had seven of his 24 in overtime after Kyle Lowry’s halfcourt shot tied it at the buzzer, helping the Miami Heat beat the Raptors 102-96 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
