ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Portland Trail Blazers at the Golden State Warriors.
The Blazers took a 63-58 lead into halftime.
3rd Quarter – Take A Few Splashes And Call Me In The Morning
Festus Ezeli started for Andrew Bogut, who was announced as out due to an abductor strain, and Ezeli got into the action quickly, with this swat of Mason Plumlee:
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But Ezeli also couldn’t catch the ball perfectly. One led to a Plumlee runout dunk.
A three by Draymond Green and an “and-one” by Klay Thompson pulled the Warriors to 73-72, then after Plumlee committed a backcourt violation, Stephen Curry pulled a swish from the right arc
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Portland head coach Terry Stotts called a timeout as Curry’s three gave Golden State a 75-73 lead with 6:59 remaining.
Steph’s wife, Ayesha Curry cheered on:
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr inserted Anderson Varejao and he made a crafty, veteran catch-and-convert with the lefty:
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However, Damian Lillard came back with this nifty bucket, with no whistle called for the bump by Varejao nor the big step(s) by Lillard:
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Allen Crabbe continued his strong play off the bench for the Blazers, and Klay responded with some clutch shots, including an ill-advised triple on the break, but he came back with a three in Portland’s face, with a give-and-receive with Varejao, tying the game at 90-90 with 1:19 to play.
Backup point guard Brian Roberts then duped Shaun Livingston into a shooting foul, but missed one of two, and Curry ran pick-and-roll with Andre Iguodala to draw Ed Davis out, and buried a splash just before the buzzer:
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With that, the Warriors took a 93-91 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter – Mo, Klay, Steph
Marreese Speights started the fourth and remained cold with two straight misses, but after Crabbe got this open three to give himself 17 points off the bench…
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Speights atoned with a fast break layup delivered by Iguodala and then a three from the top, which gave the Warriors a 102-98 lead with 8:19 to play. Stotts called a timeout and Kerr brought Curry back in.
Steph got this high-arcing finger-roll to drop…
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…while McCollum missed two jumpers, and the Warriors finally had the cushion they were looking for, 106-99, with 6:54 to play.
The game turned into an offensive display and, after Green got hacked by Davis with no call, with McCollum scoring an “and-one” on Curry on the other end in transition, the Blazers climbed back to within 110-109 with 4:02 to go.
But Andre Iguodala answered with a triple assisted by Curry, Harrison Barnes played good defense on Lillard to force a banker that went too hard, and Steph went pick-and-roll with Green for a dagger triple:
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The tit-for-tat continued as McCollum answered with a three, Steph upfaked Davis for a drive-and-dish to Green under the rim, but McCollum came back yet again, crossing over Curry impressively for this jumper:
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That made it Warriors, 118-114, as Kerr called a timeout with 2:10 left.
Iguodala turned the ball over, Davis drew free throws, Iguodala missed a three, and McCollum drew a questionable reach-in foul on Curry.
But McCollum missed a free throw, the Blazers were within one possession at 118-116, and after Lillard and Curry exchanged missed threes, Steph pulled the ultimate punch, crossing over Al-Farouq Aminu twice for a straightaway stepback dagger:
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With just 24.9 seconds remaining, that gave the Warriors control of the game with a 121-116 lead.
Backup guard Brian Roberts and Lillard couldn’t hit anything, and Curry closed it out with free throws, eventually dribbling out the ball after Lillard’s last desperation miss, and the Warriors advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a 125-121 victory.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @blc2xg)
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