Written by Kevin Arnovitz at ESPN.com
Stephen Curry took the floor at the Moda Center on Saturday, but unfortunately for the Golden State Warriors, it wasn’t against thePortland Trail Blazers in Game 3. He matched up against a trio of Warriors assistants in a light run of 2-on-2 a few hours before the main event in an empty house.
Once the place was packed and the ball was tipped, Curry was over on the sidelines wearing a tan jacket, and the Trail Blazers were riding Damian Lillardand his 40 points to a 120-108 win, narrowing the Warriors’ lead in the series to 2-1. Game 4 is scheduled for Monday night in Portland.
“You don’t want to be down 0-3, especially not to this team,” Lillard said. “I just wanted to come out and be aggressive and leave it all out there. Our guys followed suit and we got it done.”
The potency of Klay Thompson on the perimeter and Draymond Green as the Warriors’ all-purpose playmaker and defender have been the entrées of choice on Golden State’s Steph-free menu over the past couple of weeks, and they helped themselves to a healthy serving in the first quarter. Thompson got loose early — running Maurice Harkless ragged through pindowns from Green, past cross-screens from Andrew Bogut and off a curl from Harrison Barnes. Bucket, bucket, bucket. Thompson had 18 points in the first quarter, at the conclusion of which the Dubs led 28-22.
But that was the high-water mark for Golden State, as soon after the two teams took the floor for the second quarter, Lillard loaded up the time machine and transported the Moda Center back to Feb. 19, when the Trail Blazers ran the Warriors out of Portland with a 137-105 win, the worst loss of the season for Golden State.
“We didn’t keep that same edge [after the first quarter],” Thompson said. “We got away from our game plan at times, especially on the offensive end, too many one- or two-pass shots. We’ve got to wear these guys down with five more passes and make those guys work out there playing big minutes, but we’ll make the adjustment Monday.”
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