The Portland Trail Blazers visit the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night at Oracle Arena in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. The winner of the best-of-seven series advances to the NBA Finals. Here are the details: What: Blazers vs. Warriors, 6 p.m. TV channel: ESPN Listen: Radio on KPOJ 620 AM in the Portland area Watch live stream online: Watch ESPN and the Watch ESPN app, or try a free trial of fuboTV. Also, you might try Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, Sling THE SKINNY The Blazers are playing in the Western Conference finals for the seventh time in franchise history and first since 2000. ... The Blazers advanced by defeating the Denver Nuggets 100-96 in Game 7 of the conference semifinals on Sunday, becoming just the 29th team in NBA history to win a Game 7 on the road. Portland trailed the best-of-seven series 3-2, before winning the last two games. ... Damian Lillard is averaging 28.4 points and 6.0 assists per game in the playoffs, fifth-most and 10th most, respectively, in the NBA. ... CJ McCollum, who carried the Blazers in Game 7 by scoring 37 points, averaged 26.4 points and shot 45 percent from the field, against the Nuggets. ... The Blazers and Warriors split four games during the regular season. Lillard averaged 28.3 points and 6.5 assists during the series, scoring 40 points on Dec. 29 and 21 points — while hitting the game-winning three-pointer with 6.3 seconds left in overtime — on Dec. 27. ... This is Golden State’s eighth appearance in the conference finals and fifth in a row. The Warriors join the Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams to play in five Western Conference finals in a row. ... This is the third time in the last four years the Blazers and Warriors will play in the postseason. The Warriors won both meetings, defeating the Blazers in five games in the 2016 conference semifinals and sweeping them in the first round in 2017. ... Blazers backup guard Seth Curry will face Warriors All-Star guard Steph Curry — his brother — in the series. It’s the first time brothers will meet in an NBA conference finals, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... Warriors All-Star forward Kevin Durant is expected to miss at least one game in the series, and perhaps more, with a strained right calf. Durant has missed three games in the playoffs due to injury since he joined the organization and the Warriors have won all three, including a 118-113 Game 6 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday that propelled Golden State to the conference finals. Durant leads the NBA playoffs in scoring, averaging 34.2 points per game. ... Stephen Curry has made at least one three-pointer in 102 consecutive playoff games, an NBA record. INJURIES For the Blazers, Nurkic (left leg) is out and Rodney Hood (left knee) is questionable. For the Warriors, DeMarcus Cousins (left quadriceps tear), Damian Jones (left pectoral surgery) and Durant (right calf) are out. — Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox<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.<doc-sep>The Golden State Warriors haven’t outwardly cared about a regular season game since they broke the record for wins back in 2016. So I’ll understand if you think it’s a waste of time to review that. Yet as we wait for the 2019 Western Conference Finals to begin and we sift through all the elements of this series, I figured we might as well run through what has already transpired. And given that the Blazers won two of the last three regular season meetings — and four of the last seven regular season meetings over the last two seasons! — it might be helpful to look back and what happened against our conference finals opponent in the recent past. Warriors vs. Blazers season series 2018-19 Season Score Head-to-Head 2018-19 Season Score Head-to-Head Nov 23, 2018 125 - 97 103-123 Dec 27, 2018 109 - 110 OT 103-124 Dec 29, 2018 115 - 105 104-124 Feb 13, 2019 107 - 129 104-102 Let’s just run through a few of the highlights from the season series between these two. The December loss to Portland was ... strange Justin Mak summarized the December 27 loss to the Blazers pretty well by writing, “...the game became derailed [...] with a number of strange events — things that probably won’t occur for the next several seasons.” You can call the writers at Golden State of Mind homers all you want — I mean, it’s right in the name so it’s hard to refute that — but he’s probably right about that. In fact, I’ll go further: we probably won’t see a game like that ever again. The Golden State Warriors, who have won three championships anchored by a backcourt duo nicknamed the Splash Brothers for their shooting prowess, shot 29.5% on 44 3-point attempts that night. And Jannelle Moore described another aspect of their shooting that night that was even more bizarre in her analysis of the game: When they get to the line, the Warriors are arguably the best free throw shooting team in the league. On the year, Stephen Curry is shooting 94 percent. Kevin Durant is shooting 93 percent while Klay Thompson is shooting 83 percent. Last night, the trio shot a combined 4-for-11. The Blazers committed 18 fouls. The Warriors should have made them pay at the line, but they didn’t. The Warriors shot 6-for-15 overall from the free throw line that night, which is pretty devastating in a one-point loss. You could probably guess that’s extremely uncharacteristic for the Warriors, but context helps: their 40% free throw percentage that night was the fifth-worst free throw shooting night for any NBA team in the last 35 seasons, according to NBA.com/stats (even more bizarre, the worst free throw shooting performance in that span also occurred this season...and it was when the same Warriors shot 37.5% against the Denver Nuggets on April 2). Yet the strangeness didn’t stop there, to underscore Justin’s point. The AP recap includes this nugget: A series of silly mistakes followed: Thompson made a steal and threw it toward midcourt and Green couldn’t keep the ball from going over the line for a backcourt violation, as Portland regained possession. Then, Green clanked a one-handed dunk try off the back of the rim. This after he had earlier thrown a pass off Thompson’s head. Then there was this play near the end of regulation when Curry’s superpowers ended up turning against him (and the team). This doesn't count, but it should pic.twitter.com/g07WQQ6Amx — Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 28, 2018 I mean, what? ! You couldn’t make this stuff up. It was a weird game and was easily among the most bizarre losses of the season. Maybe you can dismiss all of that and take something from that game, but I’m at a loss. Lillard is very efficient against the Warriors I’ve seen and heard a few Warriors fans say they preferred to play the Nuggets instead of the Blazers in the conference finals due to their fear of Oakland native Damian Lillard. That’s not unreasonable. Damian Lillard scored 28.3 points per game against the Warriors in his four games against the team this season, which is just a few points more than his scoring average overall. But he scored those points on 50% 3-point shooting and a true shooting percentage of .622. The performance you might best remember this season is the time he scored 40 points on 14-for-23 shooting two days after that bizarre game described above. But if you’re from the Bay Area — or even a fan of the Bay Area — and I need to sell you on how dangerous Lillard is, I’m gonna question your basketball knowledge and just suggest you study up. Dude’s a problem and it’s not hard to imagine him winning a game in this series by sheer force of will. Nurkic was very good against the Warriors Jusuf Nurkic averaged 20.3 points per game and 10 rebounds a game in four games against the Warriors this season. That included a huge 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting in that wild game on December 27. Thomas Bevilacqua summarized Nurkic’s impact against the Warriors in his analysis after the December 29 game. While Looney did an admirable job against Nurkic, the Trail Blazers’ big man had his way with the Warriors for much of Saturday night’s game. Nurkic scored 21 points against the Warriors while grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out 7 assists. This game came off the heels of his 27-point, 12-rebound performance in Thursday night’s overtime win. That Nurkic was able to turn in these performances is perhaps emblematic of one problem the Warriors have been dealing with for much of this season. Centers who aren’t afraid to mix it up in the paint can really hurt the Warriors. And Portland will really feel Nurkic’s absence this series as he was a major weapon for them both scoring and on the boards. The Blazers have gotten improved offensive rebounding contributions from Al-farouq Aminu, Mo Harkless, and Meyers Leonard during the playoffs while Evan Turner has led the team in defensive rebounding percentage in limited minutes.<doc-sep>After Trail Blazers starting center Jusuf Nurkic went down with a broken leg just a few weeks before the end of the 2018-19 regular season, most assumed their chances of securing home court in the first round of the 2019 Playoffs were sunk. That didn’t end up being the case, as Portland won seven of their final nine games to secure the three-seed and home court in the first round, where they’d meet the Oklahoma City Thunder. But without Nurkic, the safe assumption was that Portland didn’t have enough talent to take down the likes of Russell Westbrook and Paul George. The Blazers, behind Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, might put up a fight, but the overwhelming majority of NBA observers picked the Thunder to win the series and send Portland on yet another vacation. But that didn’t happen either. The Blazers would eventually defeat the Thunder in five games, with the final blow coming on a 37-foot series-ending, buzzer-beater from Damian Lillard in Game 5 at the Moda Center, to advance to the second round. There, they would meet the two-seed Nuggets, a team that advanced by virtue of defeating the seven-seed Spurs in seven games. While a slim majority picked Portland to win the conference semis, after Denver took two-in-a-row, capped by a blowout win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead, the prevailing theory was that it would be Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Paul Millsap and the up-and-coming Nuggets would be the team to advance to the conference finals. The Blazers won Game 6 in Portland by their most comfortable margin in the series, but when they went down by 17 on the second quarter in just their fourth Game 7 in franchise history, that theory seemed astute. But behind the play of McCollum and Evan Turner, the Blazers rallied to defeat the Nuggets 100-96 in Game 7, and thus, secured a trip to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in nearly 20 years. There, they’ll meet the one-seed Golden State Warriors, a team that has won the NBA Championship in three of the last four seasons and eliminated the Blazers in two of their last three postseason appearances. As one would expect, the Warriors, despite both Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins likely sitting out the series due to injury, are the prohibitive favorite, with few, if any outside of Rip City, giving the Blazers much chance of advancing. There might be plenty of storylines in the series, from Damian Lillard returning to his hometown one last time before the Warriors move from Oakland to San Francisco to Seth and Stephen Curry being the first brothers to face each other in a conference final, but none of those seem to involve Portland coming out of the fray victorious. Considering what they've done to get to the conference finals, it's only fitting for the Trail Blazers to enter the series as the underdog. Between injuries and recent past playoff failures, almost nobody (at least outside of the "Inside The NBA" studio) thought they'd make it this far anyway, so they might as well lean into what got them here for the first time since 2000. So before the Trail Blazers begin another daunting playoff task, let's take a look at some of the specifics of the matchup versus the Golden State Warriors prior to Game 1, which tips off Tuesday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland. SERIES HISTORY REGULAR SEASON, ALL-TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 125-104 IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 84-31 AT THE WARRIORS: Warriors lead, 72-41 PLAYOFFS, ALL-TIME: Warriors lead, 8-1 IN PORTLAND: Warriors lead, 3-1 AT THE WARRIORS: Warriors lead, 5-0 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS SCHEDULE PORTLAND - GOLDEN STATE CONFERENCE FINALS SCHEDULE GAME DATE LOCATION TIME (PDT) Television Game 1 Tuesday, May 14 Golden State 6 PM ESPN Game 2 Thursday, May 16 Golden State 6 PM ESPN Game 3 Saturday, May 18 Portland 6 PM ESPN Game 4 Monday, May 20 Portland 6 PM ESPN Game 5* Wednesday, May 22 Golden State 6 PM ESPN Game 6* Friday, May 24 Portland 6 PM ESPN Game 7* Sunday, May 26 Golden State 6 PM ESPN *if necessary SEASON SERIES NOTES • The Trail Blazers and Warriors split the regular season series in 2018-19, 2-2. Portland won the season series against Golden State in 2017-18, 2-1. • In four games against the Warriors this season, Damian Lillard averaged 28.3 points (47.6% FG, 50.0% 3-PT, 85.0% FT), 2.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.00 steal. Lillard scored 40 points against Golden State on Dec. 29 and scored 21 points at Golden State on Dec. 27, including a game-winning three-pointer with 6.3 seconds remaining in overtime. • CJ McCollum averaged 18.0 points (36.6% FG, 30.0% 3-PT, 84.6% FT), 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists in four games against the Warriors this season. McCollum has made at least three three-pointers in seven of his last nine games against Golden State. • In four games against the Warriors this season, Al-Farouq Aminu averaged 10.0 points (37.1% FG, 35.3% 3-PT, 100% FT), 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. • Stephen Curry averaged 28.7 points (41.5% FG, 35.1% 3-PT, 79.2% FT), 5.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.33 steals in three games against Portland this season. Curry has made at least five three-pointers in eight of his last 10 games against Portland. • In four games against Portland this season, Klay Thompson averaged 21.8 points (41.6% FG, 40.0% 3-PT, 78.6% FT), 5.8 re-bounds, 3.0 assists and 1.50 steals. Thompson scored 30-plus points in both of Golden State’s victories over Portland this season. • In four games against the Trail Blazers this season, Kevin Durant averaged 28.8 points (57.5% FG, 41.2% 3-PT, 76.2% FT), 6.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 2.00 blocks and 1.00 steal. Durant has scored at least 30 points in seven of his last 10 games against Portland. PLAYOFF SERIES NOTES • Portland and Golden State have faced each other twice previously in the postseason, with the Warriors winning both series. • Entering the series, Golden State leads Portland, 8-1, all-time in the playoffs.<doc-sep>
Portland and Golden State meet in the postseason for the third time in four years. Can the Trail Blazers push for a different outcome against a potentially shorthanded Warriors team? Both the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors enter the Western Conference Finals after incredibly taxing series-clinching wins on the road. Portland endured a seven-game slugfest with the Denver Nuggets that included a four-overtime game while the Warriors, already without DeMarcus Cousins who has not played since tearing his quad in the 1st Round, outlasted the Rockets despite losing Kevin Durant in Game 5 with a strained calf. These teams know each other well as they met in the playoffs in 2016 and 2017. The Warriors swept the Blazers in the 1st Round in 2017 and beat them in five games in the Conference Semifinals in 2016. Series Schedule Game 1 - Tuesday, May 14 at Golden State, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 2 - Thursday, May 16 at Golden State, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 3 - Saturday, May 18 at Portland, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 4 - Monday, May 20 at Portland, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 5 (if necessary) - Wednesday, May 22, at Golden State, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 6 (if necessary) - Friday, May 24, at Portland, Time: 9:00 p.m. Game 7 (if necessary) - Sunday, May 26, at Golden State, Time: 9:00 p.m. Recapping the Season Series Result: Series split 2-2 Best game: Dec. 27, 2018 - Trail Blazers 110, Warriors 109 (OT) Best performance: Damian Lillard - 40 points, 14-23 FG, 6-13 3-pt FG on December 29 Although the teams split the season series, only one of the four games - the overtime thriller on December 27 - was particularly close. Each team had a blowout win (Portland won by 22 in February and Golden State won by 28 in November) while the Warriors led by double digits throughout almost the entire fourth quarter of their other win. In the overtime game on December 27, Portland blew a 10-point lead with just over three minutes left in the fourth quarter before ultimately pulling out the win in overtime thanks to a game-winning 3-pointer by Damian Lillard with 6.0 seconds left. Both Lillard and CJ McCollum played in all four games as did Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green each played in three of the four meetings while DeMarcus Cousins did not play in any of the four matchups. Key Storyline: Which backcourt decides the series? https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/NBA_Global_CMS_image_storage/d4/86/damian-lillard-and-cj-mccollum_u53us424v7ak1xd5m4xqpsdhh.jpg?t=-1316423294&w=500 The easy answer is the injury to Kevin Durant which looms large over the series. How many games will he miss? Nobody know for certain and it's a question that tugs at the strings of this series. MORE: Medical expert weighs in on Durant injury What we do know is that if Durant is out, the series will fall into the hands of the dynamic backcourts of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for Golden State and Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for Portland. These are the two best backcourts in the NBA and both are cooking. Lillard was perhaps the biggest star of the opening round when he torched Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, slamming the door hut with an emphatic 50-point game and game-winning buzzer-beater to clinch the series. Last round against Denver, it was McCollum's turn to take over as he scored 41 points in Game 3 before dropping 30 and 37 in Game 6 and Game 7, respectively. For the Warriors, both of the Splash Brothers are coming off signature performances in Golden State's epic road win in Houston without Kevin Durant in Game 6. Thompson erupted for 21 points for the Warriors in the first half to keep them in it with Curry going scoreless before Curry atoned for his poor showing with 33 points of his own in the second half including 23 in the fourth quarter. Each of these guards has shown an incredible knack for timely shot making at various points in this postseason and especially given the uncertainty regarding Durant's strained calf, whichever backcourt steps up will give their team the upper hand. Three Players to Watch Kevin Durant vs. Portland in 2018-19 (four games): 29.8 points (57.5 FG%), 6.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 2.0 blocks The longer Durant misses, the greater opportunity that Portland has of making this a competitive series. Prior to limping off during the third quarter of Game 5 against Houston, Durant was playing the best basketball of his career.