ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Portland Trail Blazers at the Golden State Warriors, Game 2 of the 2016 Western Conference Semifinals.
The Blazers took a 59-51 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – No Stopping Dame
Shaun Livingston got the Warriors going first with a jumper, then Klay Thompson missed a three, but Andrew Bogut tapped the ball out near halfcourt and Livingston leapt over the short Damian Lillard, and immediately found Thompson in the right corner for a reload.
Klay set his feet and calmly canned the triple and, just like that, Golden State was back in business, down just 59-56.
But after a couple of empty possessions, Thompson jawed with the ref, probably for over-aggressive defense by the Blazers, and got called for a technical foul, and the Warriors’ momentum was gone. Head coach Steve Kerr motioned Klay to calm down, but Thompson threw his hands up in the air.
On the next possession, Thompson was called for hooking after receiving the inbound from the baseline.
Livingston hit a jumper and a reverse layup, but Mo Harkless and Lillard hit consecutive triples and, after Lillard made a jump pass that looked like traveling, then C.J. McCollum seemed to ward off Livingston with his off arm — no whistles on either — and McCollum drained a jumper.
Green added a lefty drive past Al-Farouq Aminu, and both Draymond and Bogut helped out on a Mason Plumlee drive to send his attack into the baseline seats.
After a timeout with 5:44 remaining, Gerald Henderson, who had come in for Harkless who had four personals, drilled a jumper, Thompson missed a catch-and-shoot triple, and Lillard hit a stepback three over Klay to force Kerr to call timeout as the Blazers re-extended their lead to 72-64 with 5:17 to play.
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The Warriors kept punching, with Green a reverse layup and a Leandro Barbosa corner three delivered by Klay, but Lillard got hot.
He got a stepback triple, banked home his own miss driving on the left side, and trickled in a three from the top over the lunging Thompson.
Meanwhile, Thompson made this improbable one-footed three, although he also wanted the foul:
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Henderson added a three on a pull-up over Andre Iguodala, getting there a hair late, with the shotclock down, and after Barbosa missed a layup with eight seconds left, Allen Crabbe found Henderson in the right corner in transition and he made a better pass to a trailing Lillard for yet another “dagger” three at the buzzer:
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That put the Blazers back up, 87-76, heading into the final frame. Lillard led all scorers with 25 points.
4th Quarter – That Championship-Level Defense
Green started the fourth with an “and-one”, then deflected a shot and fed Festus Ezeli for a lay-in.
After McCollum and LIvingston traded misses, McCollum lost the ball and Draymond found Ezeli again for a throw-down:
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Stotts called a timeout as the Warriors were back in business, down just 87-82 with 10:10 remaining.
But McCollum got a jumper to trickle in and Livingston turned the ball over, resulting in a run-out dunk for Crabbe as Livingston avoided the clear-path foul, and the Blazers darted ahead again, 91-82.
But Iguodala fed Ezeli for a banker, Green and Iguodala manufactured free throws after a couple of stops, and Aminu made a bad pass to a cutting Plumlee.
Draymond came down with Klay on his right side, eventually found him on some motion, and on the catch, Thompson let his man fly by, side-stepped on a bounce, and drained the triple:
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That tied the game at 91-91 with 6:44 to play, and Stotts burned another timeout.
McCollum made a nice right-to-left crossover fade over Green for a swish, but Klay came right back, this time to give the Warriors the lead on this catch-and-shoot curl delivered by Livingston:
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Lillard answered by driving in, double-clutching, and finding Harkless at the last moment for a left-side banker, but Golden State manufactured a bucket as Thompson drove in, gave a lob to Ezeli that was almost too far, but Ezeli managed to corral the ball and even dish a bouncer to Livingston, who cut at the right time and finished with a reverse layup.
Draymond then went championship-defense mode, taking a charge on Plumlee in the lane, beckoning the crowd as #Roaracle reached deafening levels, and Kerr took a timeout to setup his next play, up 96-95 with 4:44 to play.
Green missed an attack and called whistled for over-the-back on his own (impressive) tip-in, but Plumlee got swatted by Ezeli and Klay drew a foul in transition on Lillard, upfaking him. Free throws put the Warriors up by a possession, 98-95, with 4:06 to go.
Lillard got a three from the top in response, Livingston got called for a bad screen trying to free up Thompson from downtown, but Plumlee got snuffed out again, this time by Draymond, and Green got a ferocious dunk from the right baseline on the next sequence.
That gave the Warriors a 100-95 lead.
Later, after a Klay miss from beyond the arc and an “up-and-down” traveling violation on Lillard, Livingston posted up the smaller Lillard in the post and drilled this critical jumper to take a seven-point lead with 2:16 left:
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Stotts took a timeout.
Out of the timeout and a side-out after Livingston committed a foul on the floor, Lillard missed a three, Thompson and Harkless traded free throws as Harkless committed his fifth and Green his fourth personal fouls, respectively, then Iguodala and McCollum traded misses and Livingston went up for a layup, drew McCollum on the help, which allowed Iguodala put hammer down the nail in the Blazers’ coffin:
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That made it 106-97, Golden State (2-0), a three-possession cushion with just 55.4 seconds, a death blow to Portland (0-2).
To add insult to injury, Livingston swatted Henderson on the next possession, made free throws, Harkless missed a three and, closing out, Draymond got a dunk McCollum a jumper, both meaningless, and the Warriors snatched Game 2 away from the Blazers with a 110-99 final score.
Klay led all scorers with 27 points, hitting 5-for-14 from downtown and 8-for-8 from the line, while Green notched 17-14-7, Iguodala tallied 15 points with Ezeli at 8 points, 6 rebounds off the bench. Harrison Barnes added 13 on an efficient 5-for-8 floor.
Lillard was held to zero points in the fourth quarter and finished with 25 points, McCollum added 22, and Plumlee snagged 11 boards, although he was grossly outmatched by Draymond in the fourth.
The series resumes in four nights at Portland in Game 3, where all eyes (from Golden State) will be on Stephen Curry to see if he’ll be back from his right MCL sprain.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @carlosavilagonzalez/@sfchronicle_sports)
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