Stephen Curry on Tuesday drained nine three-pointers on the way to 36 points to propel the Golden State Warriors to a 116-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference final series.
Curry added seven assists and six rebounds as the Warriors led all the way. Klay Thompson added 26 points and provided an imposing defensive presence as the Warriors shrugged off the absence of injured superstar Kevin Durant.
Draymond Green added 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and three blocked shots for the two-time defending NBA champions.
Photo: AFP
Curry said he just took advantage of what a free-flowing Warriors offense gave him.
“It was a nice flow,” Curry said. “It just puts so much pressure on the defense. You can’t key it on one guy and even if you try to, somebody else is going to be open.”
The Trail Blazers connected on only 36.1 percent of their shots from the field, making just seven of 28 three-point attempts as the Warriors drained 17 from beyond the arc.
Portland star Damian Lillard hit just four of 12 shots to score 19 points with six assists, four rebounds and seven turnovers.
C.J. McCollum, who starred as Lillard struggled in Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, scored 17 points on seven-of-19 shooting.
“The schedule favored us,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, whose Warriors polished off the Houston Rockets on Friday last week. “I thought we took advantage of the situation and got off to a good start.”
The Warriors pushed their lead to 10 in the second quarter before Portland put together a run that trimmed the deficit to 48-45.
Curry answered with a pair of late three-pointers — abetted by a Lillard turnover — to send the Warriors to the locker room at halftime leading 54-45.
The Trail Blazers made another push in the third period, cutting a 17-point deficit to six.
Rodney Hood and Seth Curry both had three-pointers in the Trail Blazers’ 11-4 scoring run to end the quarter, but those were the only points of the night for the younger Curry brother — a Portland reserve — as the game marked the first time that siblings have met in an NBA conference final.
The Warriors’ reserves opened strong in the fourth quarter to rebuild the cushion in a stretch that Kerr called key.
“Great job by our bench,” Kerr said. “If we can buy time for our starters to rest and extend the lead, that’s a huge deal for us.”
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