ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Four nights after eliminating the Houston Rockets from the first round, the Golden State Warriors embarked on their Western Conference Semifinals series against the Portland Trail Blazers, in Oakland.
The Warriors were without Stephen Curry (sprained right MCL) and Kevon Looney (left hip surgery). The Blazers were without Meyers Leonard (left shoulder) was out, while Cliff Alexander was placed on the inactive list.
1st Quarter – Klay Curry
Klay Thompson got off to a hot start by swishing two threes. The first was on a catch from a baseline inbound…
Early #SPLASH on ABC pic.twitter.com/I696MX6eSz
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) May 1, 2016
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…and the second was a deep catch-and-shoot…
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…both assisted by Shaun Livingston.
Andrew Bogut was also on-point on both ends of the floor, getting a bunny shot-put to drop, a nice block of an Al-Farouq Aminu drive, and this alley-oop from Livingston:
Fantastic feed from @ShaunLivingston to set up the @andrewbogut dunk pic.twitter.com/fDPVNJ4tjC
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) May 1, 2016
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The Warriors were punishing the small backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum from the block. Klay got a re-entry from Draymond Green and turned and hit a jumper easily over the shorter Lillard.
Later, Bogut swatted a brazen one-handed dunk attempt by Plumlee…
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…which led to a Livingston jumper getting hacked. During the free throw, Thompson beckoned the crowd and #Roaracle responded with a standing ovation, then chatted, “Warrrrriors!” after they sat down.
Approaching the end of the period, Draymond took a foothold in the right block against Lillard, got an entry pass from Thompson, Klay sped past Mason Plumlee on the in-transition switch, and scored a layup on Green’s feed.
With 7:31 remaining, the Warriors amassed a 14-4 lead as Blazers head coach Terry Stotts called timeout after Thompson’s layup.
Out of the timeout, Klay hit another three, Leandro Barbosa added one, and Andre Iguodala went coast-to-coast, weaving past Lillard, then going between-the-legs on Gerald Henderson before finishing strong off the board:
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About the only thing to go wrong for Golden State were two straight “and-one” fouls by Anderson Varejao on rotation help, but that didn’t stop Thompson from splashing another triple, his fourth of the quarter, with 6.4 seconds to play.
Lillard came back on the last possession, got trapped after passing halfcourt by Thompson and Iguodala, had to dish to the right wing to Aminu, and Green closed out nicely to force a miss by Aminu beyond the arc, at the buzzer.
The Warriors took an impressive 37-17 lead into the second stanza.
Klay led all scorers with 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting and 4-for-7 from downtown. Livingston tallied 4 assists and Golden State outrebounded Portland, 17-7, as well as got 10 assists on 15 made field goals.
2nd Quarter – Bench Unit Cold
The Warriors’ bench unit gave up seven points of their twenty-point buffer, as Ian Clark missed three threes, rushing one or two of them, and Marreese Speights only made one putback bucket, to go along with an offensive charge and two personal fouls.
At the next TV timeout, the Blazers had their deficit trimmed to 41-28 with 8:36 to go.
During the next three minutes, Ed Davis got two dunks, Lillard finally hit a triple, and Portland kept pace as Kerr used a timeout with 5:33 left, Golden State still up, 46-33.
Green came back in and immediately swatted a Lillard layup…
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…then Draymond got fouled twice to earn trips to the line as the Blazers found themselves in the penalty, and Livingston made a nice change-of-direction dribble past Allen Crabbe for an in-transition layup, and Stotts took a timeout with 2:47 remaining, with the Warriors up, 54-42.
Over the next minute, both teams traded baskets, until Draymond pulled a left-corner miss from Thompson in between two Blazers and got the putback from the other side of the board, then after Lillard missed a scoop on a drive, Green rebounded, outlet to Thompson, who found Harrison Barnes for three that rattled in.
With 57.7 seconds to play, the Warriors rushed out to a 63-49 lead and Stotts burned another timeout.
Out of the timeout, Aminu missed a three, but Green also missed from beyond the arc, trying a two-for-one possession, Aminu got a layup in return, but Klay struck back with 2.0 seconds left, getting a fading one-legged jumper to drop from the free throw line with two Blazers in front of him.
That gave him 22 points for the half and Golden State a 65-51 lead.
Draymond added 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Warriors also outrebounded the Blazers, 31-19.
Meanwhile, Lillard was held to just 2-for-11 shooting for 10 points, and McCollum had just 4 points on 1-for-7 field.
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