The Warriors lost because they couldn’t contain Damian Lillard and when they finally over-committed to him they left other Trail Blazers wide open.
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The Portland Trail Blazers dismissed any notion Saturday night that they were simply content to reach the second round of the National Basketball Association playoffs, only to be chewed up and spit out by the Golden State Warriors.
“I think we played a lot smarter down the stretch than we did the last game, and we challenged them”, Lillard said (via ESPN).
Stephen Curry is making steady progress on rehab for his sprained knee, but a loss in Game 3 for the Golden State Warriors could speed up the process for the NBA MVP return to the lineup.
Al-Farouq Aminu had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and CJ McCollum added 22 points for Portland.
Which allowed the Trail Blazers guards to relax a bit more on defense, which in turn gave them more energy on offense to close the deal in the fourth.
The potency of Klay Thompson on the perimeter and Draymond Green as the Warriors’ all-purpose playmaker and defender have been the entrées of choice on Golden State’s Steph-free menu over the past couple of weeks, and they helped themselves to a healthy serving in the first quarter.
In three games against the Warriors in Portland this season, Lillard has averaged 43.6 points.
The Warriors are a good offensive team without Curry; they’re an all-time offensive team when he’s playing. I expect us to come out hungrier.
“You don’t want to be down 0-3, especially not to this team”, said Lillard, who has scored at least 40 points in each of the three home games against the Warriors this season. Lillard led his team with 40 points on 14-of-27 shooting, including several audacious three-pointers that normally only Curry would try.
“Conditioning’s going to be an issue”, head coach Steve Kerr said. He also had 18 points in the first quarter of Game 1 against the Blazers. Portland scored the next five points, and the Warriors never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
But when Kerr has to extend those minutes in pressure situations, as Kerr did with Clark in Game 3. and when Portland coach Terry Stotts expressly sets up his rotation to get Lillard or C.J. McCollum out there vs. Clark.
Lillard has given the Warriors problems in the past, and the Blazers have now become the only team to beat the Warriors a few times during a season in which Golden State reeled off an NBA-record 73 regular-season wins.
Golden State jumped to a 16-9 lead as the Blazers started 4-for-16 from the field.
“I knew it was going to happen”, Bogut said. “I think a big part of that fell on me”.
Good enough to play Game 4? Green had 19 points in the third quarter.
With a gym bag slung over his shoulder, Stephen Curry walked off the court after practice and politely declined an interview.
Curry has gone from practicing privately behind a tarp, to shooting drills in front of the media, to 2-on-2 work hours before Game 3, to giving Clark the business at practice in 3-on-3.
“[Lillard] getting 40 – that’s not going to beat us if we don’t let Aminu get 23, Crabbe off the bench get 10”, Green said.
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With Curry growing stronger with each passing day, absent from the floor but ever-present in the minds of everyone on both sides, the Trail Blazers did something they couldn’t in Game 2: They finished their work.
