At the final buzzer, the scoreline showed the difference in play. Yes, the Warriors' backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson finished with 62 points with 12 made 3's but it was the Blazers play that probably cost them the game. The visitors committed a season-high 21 turnovers which led to 31 Warriors' points. They only shot 30-of-83 (36.1%) from the field including just seven made 3's on 25.0% efficiency. On the other hand, the Warriors shot 42-of-84 (50.0%) from the field and shot 17-of-33 from beyond the 3-point line while only allowing 12 points on their 14 turnovers. Golden State Warriors vs. Portland Trail Blazers Final: Warriors 116, Trail Blazers 94 It was only a six-point game before the final period but the Warriors opened it up in the fourth quarter. Outscoring the Blazers 39-23 in the fourth, the Warriors improved to 18-1 in Game 1s under Steve Kerr. Curry finished the game with 36, his highest score since Game 1 against the LA Clippers. His nine 3-pointers were a playoff career-high for Curry. Klay chipped in with 26 as well. Rodney Hood scored 17 points off the bench for the Blazers but the reserves for the visitors were outscored by their counterparts 36-28. End of third quarter: Warriors 77, Trail Blazers 71 Curry continues to go off, scoring 14 in the third period of his game-high 33. The Warriors have scored 28 points on the Blazers' 18 turnovers and yet, the visitors are only down by six points. The Blazers continue to fight, being down by 17 at one point in the third quarter. Halftime: Warriors 54, Trail Blazers 45 Stephen Curry, who finished with 19 points for the first half, knocked down two 3s in the last 39.4 seconds of the first half to give the Warriors a 9-point lead at halftime. The other Warriors in double figures is Klay Thompson with 11 points. Draymond Green continues to fill the stat sheet - 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. Meanwhile, the Blazers are hanging in there. Shooting 32.6% from the field with 13 turnovers that have led to 20 points for the Warriors, the Blazers would take being down just nine. Damian Lillard is the only scorer in double figures for the team with 12. End of first quarter: Warriors 27, Trail Blazers 23 For the two-time champions, the Splash Brothers have contributed 14 points while Draymond Green is doing a little bit of everything, recording six points, six rebounds, and 3 assists. Both teams have five-plus turnovers (Warriors - 5; Blazers - 6). Meanwhile, for the Blazers, Maurice Harkless and Damian Lillard were the top-scorers with seven points each. The first quarter ended with a buzzer-beating three from Rodney Hood: S Dot with the assist pic.twitter.com/pbOe3GfhJY — Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) May 15, 2019 Pre-game The Curry's have picked their sides Dell Curry has a jersey rocking BOTH SONS 🔥 (via @NBCSAuthentic) pic.twitter.com/52nQv2TDVQ — Overtime (@overtime) May 15, 2019<doc-sep>Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: Schedule, time, TV channel Date Matchup Time (TV channel) May 14 Game 1 at Golden State 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 16 Game 2 at Golden State 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 18 Game 3 at Portland 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 20 Game 4 at Portland 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 22* Game 5 at Golden State 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 24* Game 6 at Portland 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) May 26* Game 7 at Golden State 9 p.m. ET (ESPN) (*if necessary) Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: The backstory For the Warriors, the Western Conference finals are old hat. They’ve reached that stage five straight times now, winning the previous four series with a record of 16-7. The Blazers, on the other hand, are treading new ground — the franchise has not reached the conference finals in 20 seasons. The fact that the Blazers are still alive at this point is something of a miracle. It looked like their postseason future might be doomed back in late March when center Jusuf Nurkic — who had been so critical to the team’s offense this year — went down with a broken leg. But Portland made quick work of Oklahoma City in the first round and somehow survived a seven-game marathon against the Nuggets despite trailing the series, 3-2, and falling behind by 17 points on the road in Game 7. This team has faced a series of gut-checks and keeps coming through. There’s no gut check quite like going against the Warriors, though, even a Warriors team that is down a star player itself. The series and the rest of the playoffs for Golden State could be determined by who is healthy enough to put on a uniform. The Warriors are patiently waiting for Kevin Durant’s calf strain to heal, and there is a chance center DeMarcus Cousins (torn quad) could come back during the conference finals. Durant has carried a major load all postseason, averaging 34.2 points on 51.3 percent shooting and 41.6 percent 3-point shooting. That’s helped to offset some inconsistency from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. But Durant hurt his calf in Game 5 against Houston, and there’s just no knowing when he will be ready to come back. The Warriors have the talent and know-how to beat Portland without Durant, but the injury narrows their margin for error. Golden State could get a boost if Cousins returns. Without Nurkic, Portland has leaned on backup Enes Kanter, who has played well but would have difficulty guarding Cousins. Ultimately, this series will come down to the backcourts. Curry and Thompson came up big in Games 5 and 6 against Houston when Durant went out. Damian Lillard has had four 30-point games and one 50-point game in the playoffs, and when he struggled in Game 7 against Denver in the conference semis, fellow guard CJ McCollum came up huge, with 37 points on 17-for-29 shooting. There will be plenty of exciting scorers in this series, and that should make things entertaining. The Blazers would need an all-time upset to knock off Golden State, but anything’s possible — after all, few thought they’d still be around at this point. LIVE: Today's NBA scores, updates, TV schedule Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: The key player McCollum will be a key to the offense as Lillard’s running mate, but he’s going to have his hands full defensively with the assignment on Thompson. If Durant does not play, there’s a chance the Blazers can withstand an offensive barrage from Curry, but they can’t allow both Curry and Thompson to get going. That will fall to McCollum, who defended Thompson on an average of 40.5 possessions per game in the regular season, allowing 11.0 points and 50.0 percent shooting from the field and the 3-point line. Those are generous numbers. Thompson is averaging 18.3 points on 45.2 percent shooting, making 41.2 percent of his 3-pointers in the playoffs. With Durant getting hurt in Game 5 of the conference semifinals, Thompson notched 27 points in each of the Warriors’ last two games. McCollum is not much of a defensive player to begin with, but Thompson’s ability to space the floor and force McCollum into awkward closeouts will be especially challenging. He does not need to shut down Thompson altogether, but McCollum must force difficult looks and keep Thompson from going on one of his dangerous shooting streaks. (Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/6a/b1/klay-thompson-ftr-052718jpg_ogx6ur8j4uj71jne19gleoe2r.jpg?t=-1553193213&w=500&quality=80 Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: The big number 111.8. The Warriors have survived the first two rounds of the playoffs, getting some good swings from the Clippers and KO-ing their nemesis, the Rockets, to reach the conference finals. But they’ve done it without playing the elite-level defense to which they’ve been accustomed in recent years. Golden State was No. 1 in playoff defense last year, and No. 2 the previous season. The Warriors' regular-season defense has been slipping in recent years as fatigue sets in, but they’ve always been able to snap their defense back into place at this time of year. Not this year, however. Golden State has a defensive efficiency of 111.8 points, which ranks 12th in the NBA. Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: Xs and Os One reason the Blazers wanted to integrate Nurkic into their offense more this season was to reduce the team’s reliance on the pick-and-roll in the playoffs. Generally, as defenses tighten up in the playoffs and opponents get accustomed to players’ tendencies and coaches’ play calls, the pick-and-roll becomes easier to defend. During the regular season, the Blazers ran the pick-and-roll 18.9 percent of their possessions, which was 11th in the league. That was down from 21.6 percent (third) last year. With Nurkic out, though, the Blazers have had to scrap a lot of their revamped playbook and return the PNR. They ran it on 22.7 percent of their possessions through their first 11 playoff games, with pretty good success — Portland gets 0.92 points per possession on the play, which ranks fourth among playoff teams. Because the Warriors have versatile, switch-friendly defenders, most teams don’t attack them with pick-and-rolls. They gave up an average of 14.6 points on the play in the regular season, seventh-best in the league. The pick-and-roll will be a key, then. It’s Portland’s best offensive weapon, but it also happens to be the Warriors’ defensive strength. NBA PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS: Raptors vs. Bucks Trail Blazers vs. Warriors: The prediction It’s been an impressive run for Portland, and honestly, it was hard to see them getting past OKC in the first round with Nurkic out. But the Blazers have survived to this point, a solid breakthrough for a franchise that’s been frustrated in the playoffs in recent years. Beating the Warriors, even if Durant is out, is a bit too much to ask, though. Warriors over Trail Blazers, 4-2<doc-sep>The Portland Trail Blazers have advanced to the NBA’s Western Conference Finals to face the Golden State Warriors. The schedule for the best-of-seven series has been announced. Per ESPN.com and NBA.com, the schedule looks like this, with all times Pacific: Game 1 will commence on Tuesday, May 14th, 6:00 PM on ESPN, at Golden State Game 2 will be Thursday, May 16th, 6:00 PM on ESPN at Golden State Game 3 will be Saturday, May 18th, 6:00 PM on ESPN at Portland Game 4 will be Monday, May 20th 6:00 PM on ESPN at Portland Game 5, if necessary, will be Wednesday, May 22nd 6:00 PM on ESPN at Golden State Game 6, if necessary, will be Friday, May 24th 6:00 PM on ESPN at Portland Game 7, if necessary, will be Sunday, May 26th 6:00 PM on ESPN at Golden State In other words, beginning Tuesday, the Blazers and Warriors will play every other day at 6:00, Pacific, televised on ESPN, until the series has a winner. If any updates come, we’ll let you know.<doc-sep>
It wasn't easy, but the Warriors have gotten out to a 2-0 series lead. After trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half Golden State closed the game on a 14-3 run to earn 114-111 win over Portland – it outscored the visitors 64-46 in the second half. The Warriors led by 37 points from Stephen Curry and 24 points from Klay Thompson while the Blazers were paced by 23 points from Damian Lillard and 22 points from CJ McCollum. If you missed any of the action, check below for updates and highlights from throughout Game 2. Final: Warriors 114, Trail Blazers 111 (Golden State leads 2-0) - Damian Lillard isolates with an opportunity to tie the game but Andre Iguodala plays excellent defence to come away with the steal. Golden State completes a 14-3 run to close the game and take a 2-0 series lead. - After Portland fails to regain the lead, Stephen Curry and Draymond execute the pick-and-roll to perfection. Green's layup puts the Warriors up 114-111 with 12 seconds remaining. Timeout Blazers. - This one is going down to the wire! Seth Curry knocks down a triple to give the Blazers a lead but it doesn't last for long. On the ensuing possession, Kevon Looney converts an alley-oop to put the Warriors back ahead. Seth Curry hits from downtown then Kevon Looney put the @warriors up for good in Game 2! @warriors take a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals! pic.twitter.com/vd74ZmtHDT — NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2019 Timeout Portland. Golden State leads 112-111 with 52 seconds remaining. - 3:34 remains in the final quarter and Portland leads 108-102. Timeout on the floor. It's Meyers Leonard and Seth Curry stepping up big late for the Blazers, who are led in scoring by Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Can Portland finish the job? - Portland has responded to Golden State's big third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 13-5 as we near the midway point of the fourth. Blazers lead 102-94 with 6:43 remaining in regulation. Timeout Warriors. End of Third Quarter: Trail Blazers 89, Warriors 89 It was a wild third quarter at Oracle! The Warriors outscore the Blazers 39-24 in the quarter to tie things up heading into the fourth thanks to a 13-0 run early on. Klay Thompson (13 points) and Stephen Curry (11 points) put up big numbers in the frame. Klay Thompson (13 PTS) and Steph Curry (11 PTS) combine for 24 PTS in the 3rd Q as the @warriors erase a 15-PT deficit! #StrengthInNumbers Catch the finish on @ESPNNBA. pic.twitter.com/Uhj0Ngshe5 — NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2019 Thompson is up to 22 points while Curry now has 30 for the game. Jordan Bell has provided plenty of energy off the bench and is up to 10 points. CJ McCollum leads the way for Portland with 22 points of his own and Damian Lillard has scored 17 points on 4-for-10 shooting through three. Halftime: Trail Blazers 65, Warriors 50 Thanks to its red-hot 3-point shooting, Portland heads into the break with a 15-point lead over Golden State. CJ McCollum (16 points, 3-4 3FG) and Damian Lillard (10 points, 3-5 3FG) lead the way for the Blazers, who are shooting 11-for-22 (50.0%) from beyond the arc. Al-Farouq Aminu (nine), Moe Harkless (eight), Rodney Hood (seven), Seth Curry (seven) combined to score 31 points to contribute to a balanced attack for Portland in the first half. For Golden State, Stephen Curry has scored a game-high 19 points (on 6-10 shooting). Klay Thompson (nine), Draymond Green (eight) and Kevon Looney (seven) have helped Curry by combining to score 24 points for the Warriors, who finish the half shooting just 3-for-13 from beyond the arc. End of First Quarter: Trail Blazers 31, Warriors 29 The Trail Blazers, who led by as many as seven points in the first, take a two-point lead into the second frame despite Damian Lillard not yet scoring. Al-Farouq Aminu (nine), Moe Harkless (eight), CJ McCollum (eight) have done the bulk of the scoring for Portland, who shot 12-for-25 (48.0%) from the field in the first. Golden State was led by 12 points from Stephen Curry, who picked up right where he left off in Game 1. Klay Thompson added seven points while Draymond Green has scored six points and blocked four shots on the defensive end.