The champs figured out they only need two quarters of solid basketball to crush Portland’s will. The Dubs take a 3-0 lead in the series and are now one win away from the Finals,
The Golden State Warriors ripped the heart out of the Portland Trailblazers in Game 3 on the road, beating them up in the second half of a 110-99 win. This is the second straight time the reigning champs spotted the Blazers a double-digit lead before roaring back and getting the W. The Warriors ripped off a 57-33 run in the final two quarters, using 12 players to overwhelm the home team with STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.
Draymond Green was the engine, dominating with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. The Blazers were powerless to keep him from running wild. Steph Curry brought the firepower and rained down 36 points.
Portland struggled mightily from the charity stripe, shooting 20-of-33. C.J. McColllum led the Blazers with 23 points, while Damian Lillard scuffled to 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
First Half
The Warriors defense completely fell asleep in the first half, hacking the Blazers and sending them to the foul line where they converted 17-of-22. The champs dusted off Damian Jones and returned him to the starting center position. Meanwhile, Portland desperately started Meyers Leonard at center, hoping he would spread the floor. Jones picked up a quick three fouls in the first five minutes of the game, while Leonard was spacing the floor rather well.
The Warriors found little flow on the offensive side, shooting 41% from the field, and knocking down only 4-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc. At least Green was balling.
Blazers 66, Warriors 53
Second Half
Jordan Bell replaced Jones in the starting lineup to commence the third quarter. Green took over the offense, basically grabbing rebounds and sprinting the length of the floor to create buckets.
As the Warriors chipped away at the lead, Bell had a chance for a wide open dunk in transition, and muffed it hilariously.
The microphone picked up Green vigorously encouraging Bell, and the youngster responded with a monster jam soon thereafter. Incredible leadership by Green.
The Dubs took an 82-79 lead after three quarters after outscoring the Blazers 29-13 in the third frame.
The fourth quarter opened up with Quinn Cook going straight Allen Iverson mode on the Blazers.
When the Warriors put the Splash Bros in, the hammer dropped.
P.S.
Shout out to the Blazers Edge for writing this Draymond-related excerpt in a well-meaning but misguided series preview entitled: “The Warriors do have weaknesses”.
“Draymond Green is not the player he used to be
In 2016 the Warriors offense could be roughly distilled as “watch Steph Curry do some mind-mindbogglingly unstoppable shirt but don’t try to double him or he’ll pass to Draymond Green who will can a 3-pointer or whip a perfect pass to a cutting shooter in less than a millisecond.”
Suffice to say, the Green part of that equation hasn’t really held up. Daymond’s 3-point accuracy has dipped from 39 percent in 2016 to 28.5 percent this season. Despite claims that he’d “start lighting their *** up” in January, teams have been able to sag off Greenwith impunity and use the extra defender to kneecap his playmaking ability.”
How dare they? THE AUDACITY!