The Trail Blazers came out of the locker room ready a day after a number of them remarked how the Warriors were a tremendous first-quarter team, as the defending National Basketball Association champions took a 20-point lead in the first quarter of Game 1.
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It was an exciting comeback to watch, and a good win for the Warriors at home. The Warriors now lead the best-of-seven series 2-0. They don’t effervesce the way they do with Curry, but they do anaconda a game into submission, much as they did Tuesday night.
After never leading en route to a 12-point loss in the first game of the series, the Trail Blazers went up in the third minute this time and held the advantage until nearly midway through the fourth quarter. “We turned around what was a pretty bad game for us”. Throughout the quarter he came off of a series of high picks from which he could either directly pull up or shift into a patented step back.
But more than numbers, it’s Green’s defensive versatility that makes the Warriors what they are. He also went back to the gym after the game to put up some more shots… Aided by some sloppy Warriors transition defense, Portland attacked them the way the Warriors blitz so many opponents.
In the tweet, Curry shouted out several of his teammates, including Klay, Draymond, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes, and in attempting to show love to Warriors guard Brandon Rush, accidentally tweeted a spam porn account.
The Warriors trailed by 11 heading into the fourth quarter, but roared back with the first six points, including two lobs from Green to Ezeli for baskets to cut the deficit to 87-82.
TERRY STOTTS: Yeah, I thought we made Thompson work for his shots. “And in that fourth quarter we weren’t hunting for shots and playing stingy defense, and we were just locked in on both sides of the ball”.
After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr heaped praise on Ezili for his late contributions.
Ezeli hit three consecutive shots early in the fourth quarter, including one to open a 9-0 burst that got the Warriors even at 91-all with 6:44 to play.
And then the fourth quarter happened. It was an opportunity to get a win on the road.
In just 13 minutes of action, Festus Ezeli had eight points and six boards.
Even though the Warriors are up 2-0, the overriding point was clear: the Blazers are not a team to mess around with. They allowed 12 points in the fourth quarter, matching the fewest they’ve yielded in the fourth quarter of a postseason game. There, the Warriors have won by 26.5 points per in the two Curry games and a paltry 16.5 without him.
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Then the Warriors’ offense magically came back, and just in time. Instead of trying to stop him with the small backcourt duo of Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Portland rotated bigger defenders against him, including small forward Maurice Harkless and big guards Allen Crabbe and Gerald Henderson.
