Following the latest game, acting coach Brown said: “In that third quarter, obviously you guys saw it, he was fantastic and that’s why we went to him down the stretch”. And even in his absence, we want to kind of live up to that. In the first [quarter] we didn’t let them score for a while and we turned our defense into offense. Leonard added eight rebounds, six steals and three assists to his stat line.
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In the midst of the sobering news about Kerr, the Warriors got a boost with the return of Durant for the final game of the series after he injured his left calf in Game 1.
Stephen Curry had 37 points, Draymond Green 21, and Klay Thompson had 18.
Next up for the Warriors is the victor of the Utah Jazz-Los Angeles Clippers series. The time off should do wonders for the Warriors.
Matt Barnes (right ankle/foot sprain), and Shaun Livingston (right index finger sprain) were also out for the Warriors. The same can be said for Durant as well, as he can use the time off to get to a hundred percent. Assistant coach Mike Brown temporarily subbed for Kerr in their 119-113 win over Portland and is expected to do the same in Game 4 on Monday. “But I truly think it’s good for this group”. Portland started 1 of 11 from the field; the Warriors hit 12 of their first 14 attempts.
Trail Blazers: Portland’s bench, which struggled in the first two games of the series, combined for 19 points and 13 rebounds in the first half. They’ve done most of it without Kevin Durant.
He was launching like last year’s Curry, who we’ve seen a lot of as of recently. “I was uncomfortable at practice the other day, and with things getting worse, I just made the decision I couldn’t coach”. In Steve Kerr’s first season as head coach of the team, the Warriors won 67 games but faced 2-1 deficits in the playoffs against both the Grizzlies and Cavaliers before prevailing to win the title.
Kerr stayed behind at the team hotel for Saturday night’s Game 3 at Portland’s Moda Center.
If Kerr is out for an extended period, Brown’s coaching could cost Golden State eventually – like maybe in the finals. The pain level was high.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts told reporters on Sunday that Nurkic was tender after the game but did not do further damage.
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Golden State can sweep with a victory Monday night. “The players on the roster now need to continue to get better as they have”. It’s about wanting to get back on that plane and play Game 5 (in Oakland). “And we didn’t play almost as well as they needed to and they showed why they’re a championship team”.
