This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Warriors took a 74-52 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Splash Brothers Close Out
Damian Lillard started off the second half for the Blazers with a three-pointer, but Stephen Curry went to Draymond Green for an alley-oop as Noah Vonleh got shielded with a back-pick.
Brandon Rush continued his strong play with a left reverse layup, giving him 12 points on 5-for-6 floor for the night.
But the Blazers answered back with a 10-0 run as C.J. McCollum got a three to drop from the left wing, Green followed with a brick from the deep left wing late in the shotclock, and McCollum drove down into the paint in transition only to pass it back to Lillard for a triple from the right wing.
Andrew Bogut made a bad lead pass to a cutting Stephen Curry, that Al-Farouq Aminu eventually followed with a jumper, then after Klay Thompson missed a jumper, Lillard pulled up for a jumpshot over Curry.
Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton called timeout as the Blazers trimmed the Golden State lead to 78-65 with 8:50 remaining.
But as quickly as the Warriors lost the lead, was as quickly as they got it back.
Out of the timeout, Thompson continued his strong shooting with a catch-and-shoot jumper from the left wing…
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…then he got a three from the right wing.
Lillard missed a trey attempt from the top and eventually Curry dribbled down the left side of the lane, drew two Blazers, and flicked a pass back to Bogut over his right shoulder, one-handed, as if he had eyes on the back of his head:
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Mason Plumlee missed a shot in the paint, Green grabbed the board, led the break, went behind-the-back to avoid a defender, and found Steph curling up.
Curry got a lefty scoop out of it, Green’s fifth assist, but the Warriors weren’t done.
Thirty seconds later, Green found himself switched on with Lillard in the right block. Rush sneaked to the left corner, Bogut supplied interference on the left block for Rush, and Draymond found him for another corner three.
Blazers head coach Terry Stotts called timeout as the Warriors took a 90-67 lead with 6:32 to go, their own 10-0 run to match the previous run by Portland.
Rush scored his 16th and 17th points on another driving bucket as Green gave him a swing pass and he made an upfake to attack the paint, then the #SplashBrothers closed out the third quarter.
Although it all started with a Curry airball from the right wing on a pull-up beyond the arc, after Green did a good job helping and boxing out the taller Meyers Leonard, Steph came down the court, got a drag screen from Draymond, and pulled up from about 27 feet over Leonard to light the torch:
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Leonard answered with a triple of his own, but Thompson went down the right lane just seconds after the make, then Steph banged in a three on the right wing on a catch, with a good closeout and actually trying to draw the foul. There was no whistle, but the shot went in.
That kept the Warriors comfortably ahead, 101-80, with 2:23 to play.
Lillard got a step-back triple after warding off Curry with the right forearm, but Steph had the last laugh as he used a pick-and-roll for another step-back from the deep left wing.
That gave Curry 26 points on the night, 11 of them in the last 3:07 of the third quarter, and the Warriors took a 106-87 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Bench Unit Holds Blazers At Bay Again
Once again the bench unit kept the Warriors’ buffer strong at 20 points.
After Shaun Livingston got his turnaround jumper blocked by Lillard, with 2.3 seconds left on the shotclock on the same possession, Marreese Speights made a long two from the left side on a baseline inbound play from Livingston.
Festus Ezeli checked in with 6:43 to go and promptly tipped a layup miss by Ian Clark back to Clark, who passed it back out to Harrison Barnes for a catch-and-shoot triple from the right wing.
Later, Clark got a handoff from Ezeli, Festus cut to the cup, and Clark lofted a nice alley-oop that Ezeli slammed home, keep the Blazers at bay, 117-96, with 5:03 left.
After McCollum took Clark down the right lane, Walton called timeout with 4:42 remaining and subbed Green back into get his triple-double.
But first, Thompson missed a catch-and-shoot from a right side curl, but after Pat Connaughton lost the ball to Rush, Draymond found Klay on a cut down the right side from the post. Thompson caught the ball outside the paint on the left baseline and spun around for the jumper, giving Green his 10th assist and eighth triple-double of the season.
Golden State closed things out with two free throws from Thompson to end his night with 36 points, another three from Rush to push his point total to 20, and jumpers from Barnes (just 2-for-10 on the night) and Speights (4-for-7).
The Warriors (34-2) finished the game with a 128-108 victory over the Blazers.
Along with Klay’s 36, Curry added 26 and Green tallied 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. Lillard led all scorers with 40 points, while Crabbe added 18 and McCollum 17.
Golden State heads to Sacramento to face the Kings tomorrow.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @hayesrambo)
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