Trail Blazers at Warriors
Stephen Curry was a dominating force in the series opener and the star point guard looks to follow up his strong outing when the Golden State Warriors host the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday. Curry matched his postseason career high of nine 3-pointers and scored 36 points as the Warriors rolled to a 116-94 home win on Tuesday.
Curry took several uncontested 3-point shots during his fourth 30-point effort of the postseason and he is feeling in a groove after struggling at times earlier in the playoffs. "I know what I'm capable of on the floor," Curry told reporters. "The situation calls for me to be a little bit more aggressive and hopefully that'll continue. "Obviously it's nice to see the ball go in." Portland coach Terry Stotts bristled when reporters suggested he might need to change the strategy of defending Curry but star point guard Damian Lillard saw that something needs to change. "That was very poor execution defensively on our part," Lillard said. "Just having our bigs back that far; understanding the team we are playing against, they are not going to shoot midrange jumpers and try to attack the rim. If they see the opportunity to shoot a 3, they are going to tell you. They shoot it at a high clip. We've got to bring our guys up and run them off the line, and (Tuesday) they were setting solid screens and coming off shooting practice shots."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS: In addition to shoring up their defense, Portland also needs to work on trimming down its turnovers (21 in Game 1) and improve its 3-point shooting (7-for-28). "I think we played a terrible game and we still had a chance going into the fourth quarter," shooting guard CJ McCollum told reporters, referring to trailing by just six after three quarters. "So we need to tighten some things up and look forward to the game on Thursday." Lillard scored 19 points in Game 1 but was just 4-of-12 shooting and committed seven turnovers while McCollum, forward Maurice Harkless and swingman Rodney Hood each scored 17 points.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Star small forward Kevin Durant (calf) is slated to be re-evaluated on Thursday but reports circulated Wednesday that he has been ruled out for Game 2. Shooting guard Klay Thompson added 26 points in the opener as Golden State played loose despite not having a cog like Durant on the floor. "You see the morale, like everybody's shoulders are up and smiles," Curry said. "Just aggressiveness all over the floor, whether that's setting a screen or swing, swing or cutting hard, all that type of stuff. When you create good shots that way, it's fun for everybody."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors were 17-of-33 from 3-point range in Game 1.
2. Portland C Enes Kanter, who is playing with a separated left shoulder, had 16 rebounds in Game 1 for his eighth double-digit effort of the postseason.
3. Golden State PF Draymond Green had 10 rebounds in the opener to reach double digits for the sixth straight contest.