MODA CENTER, PORTLAND, OR — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers took a 67-57 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Defense Takes It Up A Notch
The Warriors made two consecutive turnovers to start the second half, with Stephen Curry — who started in place of the ejected Shaun Livingston — making an ill-advised behind-the-back pass behind Andrew Bogut, and Klay Thompson making a bad jump pass back out to Draymond Green near halfcourt.
But they escaped harsh punishment and still drew first blood as Green got fouled on an attack past Damian Lillard.
Meanwhile, Curry was still being held on offense by C.J. McCollum off the ball, but Al-Farouq Aminu was called for the more egregious grab on Thompson, which was Aminu’s fourth personal foul, sending him to the bench with Allen Crabbe subbing in.
The Blazers stayed ahead by the halftime margin at 73-63 with 7:46 remaining as the Warriors fell asleep and let Maurice Harkless go backdoor, assisted by Mason Plumlee.
But Klay made an incredible shot from the left corner, side-stepping, then upfaking twice, to hit a leaning triple, which seemed to invigorate Golden State:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Draymond stymied a Plumlee alley-oop…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…then Thompson dove and disrupted Lillard’s dribble. Crabbe got a corner three, but Klay answered with one of his own, supplied by a nice screen from Harrison Barnes…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…then one more on another side-step of McCollum on the catch, and after Green deflected McCollum’s triple and Steph saved the ball going out of the baseline, and Bogut eventually corraled an off-balance save on the other end by Draymond, then got the ball to Curry, who made a layup:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Portland head coach Terry Stotts called timeout as Golden State trimmed the lead down to just 76-73 with 5:04 to play.
Out of the timeout, Plumlee got a bucket inside, but Draymond answered with a three via Curry, then Green swatted Lillard off the backboard…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…Steph’s right corner triple went way off, but Draymond foiled another Plumlee dunk attempt and this time, Steph found Klay in the right corner:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
After Thompson drilled the three, he pointed at Crabbe, who had closed out on the play.
That gave the Warriors an improbable 79-78 lead, which grew to as much as 82-78 after Plumlee made another bad screen to deck Andre Iguodala, and Ian Clark anticipated a side inbound from a timeout for a run-out layup, with the foul on Brian Roberts.
Gerald Henderson and Festus Ezeli got buckets for each team to close out the quarter, which ended with McCollum committing an offensive foul and Curry badly missing, again, a pull-up near the logo over Crabbe
4th Quarter – Curry Starting To Get In Rhythm
Marreese Speights found a cutting Curry to start the final frame:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Then Steph finally hit a trademark stepback, but it was a long two…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and Stotts called a timeout as the Warriors took a 92-87 lead with 9:01 to go.
Out of the timeout, Green got a deflection of Plumlee’s pass, but Curry turned the ball over right back and McCollum hit a three at the top out of the mess.
Speights answered with a three, but the Blazers hit two more from downtown, one from McCollum and one from Aminu, and Kerr called timeout as Portland went ahead, 96-95, with 7:23 left.
Leandro Barbosa came in and deflected a McCollum pass, but this time, Iguodala gave it right back and Lillard made the Warriors pay with another three from the top.
Thompson hit a three in return, but Bogut committed his fourth personal, then Steph checked back in for the final four minutes and change, with Golden State up, 100-99.
Curry promptly got a fading three to net from the right arc…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…but after some empty possessions, Bogut sent Lillard sprawling on a bad pick would have resulted in a Curry three, Bogut’s fifth personal:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Once again, the Warriors got the ball on a Crabbe turnover, but gave it right back as Iguodala lost the ball right past halfcourt, and Lillard ended up drilling a deep three in front of Klay, to take a 105-103 lead as Kerr called timeout with 2:40 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Draymond threw a pass to a cutting Klay behind Thompson, and Lillard went past Curry and got fouled by Bogut on a reach, Bogut’s sixth personal. Green showed a rare bit of frustration as he told Bogut to use his head, but Bogut had fouled out.
But Steph saved the day, coming back with a dagger three from the top, thanks to a screen from Green:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Lillard answered with a stop-and-pop from the left elbow, but Curry found Draymond cutting for the right-handed smash:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Lillard’s jumper to answer that went in and out, Steph’s three pull-up fell short, and Plumlee scored on a roll to the hoop off bank, as Curry rotated over too late.
That put the Blazers up, 111-108, with 58.6 seconds to play.
Out of the timeout, Steph deftly found Barnes for the tying trey:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
It was Curry’s eighth assist.
Lillard missed the potential go-ahead bucket, and Steph drove the right side, missed, and Green’s tap at the buzzer was off, and the game went into overtime tied, 111-111.
Overtime – Baby-Faced Assassin Takes Over
The overtime was an offensive display to start out, as Curry went left side for a push-shot banker, but Aminu came back with yet another triple over the lunging Steph.
After Green missed a hanging jumper over McCollum iso’ed on the left pinch, Plumlee got an inside bucket via stick-to-it-iveness from Aminu, who seemed to be bottled up inside.
But Steph answered with a nice give-and-go triple, from the bounce pass by Ezeli:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
McCollum made an impressive crossover-stepback over Iguodala from the right elbow, Barnes’ jumper went in and out, but somehow Curry was there to get the offensive putback with another shot-put floater.
That tied the game at 118-118 with 2:42 remaining, but Plumlee lost the ball on nice help from Klay, and Draymond found Steph on the runout for the fast break layup.
McCollum couldn’t hit another stepback try over Iguodala, and Curry made him pay with a pull-up triple:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Stotts called timeout at the Warriors finally found a little bit of separation, 123-118, with 1:31 to play.
Lillard drew free throws on a drive against Thompson, but Steph was right there again with his MVP swag with a right-elbow fade-away from distance that rattled in.
Curry’s daggers were opening up the wounds some more for Portland and Stotts took another timeout, this time down 128-120 with just 1:05 to go.
Iguodala smothered Lillard into a right-corner three that hit the side of the board, then after Lillard blocked Curry’s drive off of Steph, Lillard couldn’t connect in desperation again, his three hitting the top of the glass this time, out of bounds.
Klay attacked the rim, leaving Aminu on an island, and the lay-in was the death-knell for the Blazers, as the Warriors took a 130-120 lead with just 32 seconds left.
By the time meaningless buckets were tallied in the waning moments, Golden State had escaped with a 132-125 victory, taking a stranglehold of the series with a 3-1 lead.
The Warriors can close out Portland at home in Oakland in two nights, in Game 5.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @warriors)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
