Written by Ben Golliver at SI.com
On a night that began with Andrew Bogut fumbling the ball twice on the game’s first possession, an ominous and off-kilter opening, Warriors coach Steve Kerr finally hit his breaking point midway through the third quarter.
Klay Thompson, cold since tip-off and just a few minutes removed from receiving a technical foul, rushed a contested three-pointer early in the shot clock, the latest quick-trigger attempt to dig out of a double-digit lead. Kerr threw his arms into the air, spun backwards, and then returned his attention to the court, just in time to watch Blazers guard Damian Lillard knock down a clean look at a mid-range jumper. The shot, which gave Lillard two of his 17 third-quarter points, had barely found the net before a frustrated Kerr shot his hands into the air to signal for a timeout.
“I thought we lost our poise there a little bit late in the third quarter,” Kerr said after Golden State claimed a 110–99 comeback victory Tuesday to take a 2–0 series lead over Portland. “I was upset. I called a quick timeout. We didn’t run the play right.”
It wasn’t just the one play. So spectacular early in Game 1, the Warriors were uncharacteristically sleepy to open Game 2, granting too much space to Lillard and CJ McCollum on one end and rushing to launch difficult shots on the other. The Blazers built a 17-point lead before halftime thanks to decisive individual offense from their starting guards and improved three-point shooting from complementary options like Al-Farouq Aminu and Gerald Henderson.
“Game Twos always scare me,” Kerr said. “Especially if you’ve won the first one relatively easily like we did. It just happens. It’s human nature. The other team comes out angry, and maybe you let your guard down a little bit.”
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