The Portland Trail Blazers were only meant to be a small obstacle in the road to the championship for the Golden State Warriors. However, the reigning Western Conference champions had other ideas and used Monday's game against the Trail Blazers to showcase their dominance. The series between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers finished with a sweep by the Warriors as their wrapped up the series at Moda Center with a dominant 128-103 win. Multiple Warriors players impressed on the day with six players finishing with double-digit scoring.
However, it was Stephen Curry who stole the spotlight with a game-high 37 points along with eight assists and seven rebounds behind his superstar's performance.
Lillard's efforts were not enough to avoid a sweep
With a team-high 34 points and six assists, Damian Lillard carried as much as he could to try and keep the Trail Blazers in this game, but his supporting cast was lacking except Al-Farouq Aminu (25 points and seven rebounds). It was a poor showing from CJ McCollum who finished the night with 2 of 12 shooting for 6 points. Every once in a while the Golden State Warriors puts the league on notice just how dominant of a team they are. This dominance put on display in Monday's game going on a 14-0 run to start the game and finishing the first quarter with a commanding lead of 45-22.
The 45 points the Warriors scored in the first quarter beat the franchise playoff record of 42 points scored in the 1994 first round series against the Phoenix Suns.
Warriors were on cruise control the whole game
During the first quarter assault, the Golden State Warriors shot 8-11 from beyond the arc with Stephen Curry taking charge with 12 points including three treys.
The Golden State Warriors were never really worried after the end of the first quarter in what many believed was a showcase of things to come for the Warriors' upcoming opponents. Before the game, the Golden State Warriors made Kevin Durant available for this game which signaled Durant's return after missing game 2 and 3 of this series due to a strain in his left calf.
However, the Warriors were not completely healthy as Shaun Livingston right hand/index finger, and Matt Barnes (right foot/ankle) were both unable to play.
Warriors are just getting started
To add to the Warriors' injury woes head coach Steve Kerr was still absent according to Lewis Johnson of TNT for the second straight game this series, with the Trail Blazers tweeting their kind wishes to Kerr. While Kerr's status remains unknown as the Warriors go deeper into the postseason, the Golden State Warriors as a team are going to be more dangerous as the postseason goes on as Kevin Durant get backs into his rhythm and both Livingston and Barnes return from their injuries. With how much the Warriors dominated in Monday's game, Durant was not required to take charge as Durant after 20 minutes of game time finished with only 10 points. Despite this, the 2014 MVP is still more than able to take control of games if need be and Durant looked back to form during stretches of Monday's game.
