Warriors at Trail Blazers
The Golden State Warriors are going to make sure Kevin Durant is 100 percent healthy before putting him back on the floor, and the team is making sure he doesn't have to rush by building up a big lead in the first round of the playoffs. The Warriors will go for a sweep of the best-of-seven Western Conference series when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers for Game 4 on Monday.
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The Trail Blazers looked energized by playing in front of their home fans on Saturday night and built up a 17-point lead before falling off the pace in the third quarter and ending up with a 119-113 loss. "They took it up another level," Portland coach Terry Stotts told reporters of Golden State. "They defended very well, created turnovers. Our offense kind of stagnated a little bit, they pushed it out in transition as well as they have so far in this series. I think they made three threes during the stretch. It’s what that do, they put a run on you." The Warriors broke off a 19-1 run to get the crowd out of the game and Stephen Curry finished with 34 points in the win. "I thought our aggression defensively was phenomenal," interim coach Mike Brown told reporters. "We were up into the ball. We were sending the ball the right way."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), KGW (Portland)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Golden State is working through injuries to Durant (calf), Shaun Livingston (finger) and Matt Barnes (foot) and is without head coach Steve Kerr, who sat out Game 3 due to chronic back pain. Kerr, who will not coach on Monday, is consulting with doctors but told reporters he could miss the remainder of the postseason if his back does not improve. While not an ideal situation, the Warriors are used to being without Kerr after he sat out half of the 2015-16 campaign while dealing with complications and pain following back surgery.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS: Portland was missing center Jusuf Nurkic (leg fracture) in the first two games and received a noticeable boost from the big man when he returned for Game 3, though his effectiveness diminished the longer he stayed on the floor. "Obviously (Nurkic) had a big impact on the game," Stotts told reporters. "We got off to a good start. Obviously, when he was on the floor he made a difference with his passing, his rebounding. He didn’t necessarily look to score but I thought he complemented everybody out there very well." Nurkic reported soreness in the leg after the contest and is not expected to play in Game 4.
WALK-OFFS
1. Trail Blazers PG Damian Lillard is 7-of-26 from 3-point range in the series.
2. Golden State C JaVale McGee is 16-of-19 from the floor in the series and is averaging 11.7 points in 13 minutes.
3. Golden State matched a franchise record for fewest turnovers in a postseason game with seven on Saturday.