With the exception of silly turnovers, lack of ball movement may be the most annoying characteristic the Warriors can exhibit. Next up is free agency and the Trail Blazers need to bring in an impact player or two.
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Damian Lillard scored a career play-off-high 40 points and dished out 10 assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers past the Golden State Warriors 120-108 on Saturday night at the Moda Centre.
“I didn’t think it was on me to go win the game or anything, but I did think it was my job to come out and be aggressive from the start”, said Lillard. “Last game, I think, we played good and then we let up a little bit, and they turned it on – like championship teams do”. Tonight we didn’t allow that to happen, we kept doing what was working for us’.
Warriors superstar point guard Steph Curry, who is yet to play in any of the first three Western Conference semifinals games, participated in 3-on-3 practice drills yesterday but is still listed as “doubtful” tonight for Game 4.
In addition to Lillard’s stellar performance, C.J. McCollum added 22 points and Al-Farouq Aminu added 23 points and 10 boards to the stat sheet.
Curry has missed six straight playoff games with the knee injury, but when asked on Sunday Blazers point guard Damian Lillard sounded as if he would welcome Curry’s return to the court.
Green had 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Thompson scored 35 points for the Warriors, who sank 14 three-pointers but had their worst defensive effort of the playoffs.
Curry averaged a league-leading 30.1 points on 50.4 percent shooting while shattering the National Basketball Association record with 402 three-pointers in 2015-16.
“You can expect Game 4 to be a battle, at least from us”, Green said. “We know he’s going to be a handful, and he played a great game”.
Harrison Barnes’ 3-pointer and Leandro Barbosa’s long jumper closed the gap to 105-92 for the Warriors with 6 minutes left. Lillard’s 3-pointer with 2:47 made it 114-97, but Green answered with his own 3.
The 28-year-old would be the 11th back-to-back MVP in the NBA’s 70-season existence.
Miami Heat standout Dwyane Wade continued taking warm-up shots while the Canadian national anthem was being performed prior to Saturday’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, sparking outrage from fans of the Toronto Raptors and other Canadians.
It’s not every game, of course, or even every playoff game, but it was this playoff game, against this opponent, in this arena, and specifically this time.
“I thought the first quarter we couldn’t find much rhythm to it, but we found a way to hang around”, Portland coach Terry Stotts said. And we needed that.
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But the Heat lost the game and maybe much more given that center Hassan Whiteside will have an MRI on Sunday to determine how much damage he did to his right knee in a second-quarter tumble. “We just got to worry about ourselves and we’ll be ready for whatever team they put out there”.
