Blazers head home for Game 3, down 2-0 to Golden State
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Damian Lillard says Golden State did its job and protected home court. Now it's time for the Trail Blazers to do the same.
The Western Conference finals between the upstart Blazers and the defending champion Warriors shifts to Portland on Saturday with Golden State holding a 2-0 advantage.
The Blazers were up 15 points at the half and led by eight with 4½ minutes left before the Warriors rallied — boosted by Kevon Looney's dunk with less than a minute left, and a game-sealing steal from Andre Iguodala — for a 114-111 victory in Game 2 on Thursday night.
Golden State capped the game with a 14-3 run to avoid falling into a tie in the best-of-seven series.
"Lost the game, but you know, their job was to take care of their home floor, and we've got an opportunity to do the same thing," Lillard said.
Lillard, who grew up just a few miles from Oracle Arena, finished with 23 point and 10 assists, but was thwarted by Golden State's defense, including Iguodala's at the end. CJ McCollum had 22 points in Portland's eighth straight playoff loss to the Warriors since 2016.
"We've got to bring that same energy at home, understand that this is the first time in 19 years we've been in the conference final," McCollum said. "I know they (the fans) will be excited and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity playing at home and building on what we've done.
"Being down 0-2, it's not what you would like to see but it's our reality, so now we got to go get some at home."
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 37 points. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said experience pushed Golden State at the end after Portland's dominant play for most of the game.
"We've done this a few times, and yeah, we stole it for sure," Kerr said.
Golden State, vying for a fifth straight trip to the NBA Finals, won the opening game against the Blazers 116-94, with Curry scoring 36 points to lead the way.
The series so far, and particularly Game 2, has been an entertaining battle between Curry and his younger brother Seth, who plays for the Blazers. It is the first time that brothers have played each other in a conference final.
The younger Curry had 16 points and four steals off the bench on Thursday, including a steal on his brother. Seth Curry even engaged in a little trash talk when his brother was at the free throw line as the game wound down.
"This was like the coolest experience I think I've ever had playing against him. We talked about the stage and he was amazing tonight," Steph Curry said. "You know, every minute he was out there defensively, he was a pest. Made three big shots the fourth quarter that were very timely."
He added with a smile that it must have been nerve-wracking for his parents, "but it worked out perfectly tonight: He played well and we won."
Game 3 will be the first conference final game in Portland since 2000. The Blazers lost that series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.
"I know they are going to be excited," Stephen Curry said in noting the atmosphere at the Moda Center. "We've got to do whatever we can to hopefully take them out of it early. Knowing Portland is going to feed off that energy, it's going to be tough to win up there, so we got to bring it."
Back at home, the Blazers won't need to deal with the return of Kevin Durant. The two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP is still out with a right calf injury and isn't set to be re-examined until next week, meaning it's likely he'll miss the rest of this series.
Durant, who won't travel with the team to Portland, averaged 34.2 points in the playoffs before he was injured in the third quarter of Golden State's Game 5 victory over Houston.
The third-seeded Blazers bested Oklahoma City 4-1 in the opening round, then needed all seven games to get past the Denver Nuggets in the semifinals. The Warriors downed both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets in six games to get to the conference finals.
The winner in the West will go on to face the winner of the East series between the Toronto Raptors and the Milwaukee Bucks.
