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 With the Warriors up 2-0, despite playing both games without
injured star Stephen Curry, the best-of-seven series moves to
Portland for Game 3 on Saturday.
Backup center Festus Ezeli, who never left the bench in Golden
State's Game 1 victory, was the backbone of a strong defensive
effort in the fourth quarter.
He added three hoops as the Warriors outscored the Trail Blazers
34-12 after entering the final period down 87-76.
Portland led 95-94 after a Moe Harkless basket with 5:21 to play.
However, by the time CJ McCollum converted the Trail Blazers' next
field goal, a short shot with eight seconds to go, Golden State had
run off to a 13-point lead.
While the Trail Blazers were going seven consecutive possessions
without a point, the Warriors got two baskets from Curry's
replacement, Shaun Livingston, in a 10-0 burst that put Golden State
in command at 104-95 with 1:47 to go.
 Despite missing 13 of his 20 shots, the Warriors' Klay Thompson led
all scorers with 27 points, a majority of which came on five
3-pointers in 14 attempts.
Draymond Green recorded team highs in rebounds (14) and assists
(seven) to complement 17 points for the Warriors, who recorded their
sixth consecutive double-digit home win over Portland.
Andre Iguodala (15 points), Livingston (14) and Harrison Barnes (13)
also scored in double figures for the Warriors, who overcame a cold
start to shoot 46.2 percent from the field.
Damian Lillard had 25 points and McCollum 22 for the Trail Blazers,
who shot 44.4 percent for the game. However, Lillard never scored in
the fourth period, and McCollum had only one meaningless hoop in the
final 5:51.
Lillard hit six 3-pointers and had a team-high six assists.
Al-Farouq Aminu (14 points), Gerald Henderson (12) and Harkless (11)
also scored in double figures for Portland, who lost the first two
road games in their first-round series against the Los Angeles
Clippers before rebounding with four consecutive wins.
Mason Plumlee had a team-high 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who
were outrebounded 48-39.
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Down by as many as 17 in the second quarter, and 11 to begin the
fourth period, the Warriors got a boost from an unusual source --
Ezeli -- to close the gap quickly early in the final quarter.
Ezeli had two interior hoops, both assisted by Green, and Green
added a tip-in as Golden State scored the first six points of the
fourth quarter to close within 87-82.
After McCollum and Allen Crabbe stabilized the Trail Blazers with a
pair of hoops to expand the lead back to nine, Golden State
immediately countered with a nine-point flurry to draw even for the
first time since 3-3 on a Thompson 3-pointer with 6:44 to go.
After never leading en route to a 12-point loss in the first game of
the series, the Trail Blazers went up in the third minute this time
and held the advantage until almost midway through the fourth
quarter.
Portland was equally hot as the Warriors were cold in the early
going.
The Warriors missed six of their first seven shots, allowing the
Trail Blazers go to up 10-3 barely three minutes into the game.
Then Portland heated up offensively, with Aminu hitting four of his
first five shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help the
visitors go up by as many as 14 en route to a 34-21 advantage at
first quarter's end.
The lead reached 17 in the second quarter and 11 at the end of the
third period when Lillard buried a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The
Oakland-born guard scored 17 of his 25 points in the third quarter.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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