On the back of a second-half comeback, the Golden State Warriors charged to an 119-113 win on Sunday over the Portland Trail Blazers to lead their 2107 Western Conference quarterfinals series 3-0. This game was odd for these Warriors as head coach Steve Kerr was absent due to an illness while Kevin Durant was also missing due to an injured calf for a second straight game.
Other players had to perform in Durant's absence
With Kevin Durant on the bench, Stephen Curry scored a game-high 34 points on 10-25 shooting, despite him struggling to find his rhythm early on in the game.
Klay Thompson scored 11 straight in the third quarter to lead the Golden State Warriors' revival and ended up cutting the lead to 83-81, causing fear in the Moda Centre. The 16 point deficit became erased in the span of four minutes on the following possession by an Andre Iguodala dunk which tied the ball game up at 83.
It is no secret that JaVale McGee has become the Warrior's X-factor throughout this whole series. The backup center has converted on 16 of his 19 field goal attempts in the three games against the Trail Blazers' defense and was a huge factor in the Warriors erasing the deficit in the third quarter. Social media went into meltdown due to how fast the tide turned in this game for the Warriors.
Lillard and McCollum can only do so much
Damian Lillard and CJ.McCollum has carried the Trail Blazers as far as they can this season. The duo poured in 63 points in Game 3, yet it was not enough to hang with the Warriors for the whole match. While McCollum and Lillard were on fire throughout the entire game, the rest of the starting unit combined for just six made field goals for 20 points.'
With 14 points Al-Farouq Aminu provided the spark off the bench that the Trail Blazers desperately needed in the first two games of this series.
The Trail Blazers have hit the Warriors with their best shot in two of the three games this series. In game one the scores were all even at the end of the third-quarter and in game three the Trail Blazers led by as many as 16 points, despite this the Trail Blazers still do not have a match won in this series to show for it.
Taking in the fact that Kevin Durant has been absent in the last two Warriors wins in this series, it will require some unfortunate circumstances for the Warriors not to make it out of the first round and onto the conference semifinals. Despite the Warriors leading the series 3-0 this series by no mean has been one-sided. However, the Warriors keep on fighting in clutch moments while playing without key players.