Warriors continue to be too much for Damian Lillard and the Blazers

The Trail Blazers had everything going for them in the first half of Game 3 on Saturday. Donning the free red or white Rip City t-shirts, Blazers fans had packed the Moda Center to the brim and were hyped well before the tip. Blazers fans reached a fever pitch during the starting lineups when, after not playing since March 30 due to a fibular fracture, Jusuf Nurkic was introduced.

Feeding off the energy of their home crowd and inspired by Nurkic’s return, the Blazers jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter. Damian Lillard scored 15 points in the quarter and Nurkic made a difference with his passing ability, defense and rebounding in just five minutes of action. At the end of one, the Blazers were up 37-30 and they built on that lead in the second, finishing the half with a 13 point lead.

With Portland playing at such a high level and Golden State seemingly stymied, it looked like the Blazers could actually get a victory, a daunting feat that not many expected to happen. The Blazers were just playing with a newfound sense of energy and the confidence that they’ve maintained throughout the series was being showcased with their effort on the court.

“We still believe we can beat them,” Lillard said at practice on Friday. “Don’t get it twisted. They won the first two games, we competed really well in the first, [were] blown out in the second. But, like I said after the game, scores don’t carry over. Each game is different.”

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Game 3 proved to be quite different than any other one in the series so far except the end result was still the same. In the second half, the Warriors were able to slowly cut through the Blazers’ first half offensive onslaught and make an exit with the 119-113 Game 3 victory.

With Klay Thompson finding his shot in the third, the Warriors went on a massive 19-1 run to cut Portland’s lead to just one at the end of the quarter. Thompson hit four 3s and scored 14 of his 24 points in the third, a drastic turnaround from his 3-of-11 shooting in the first half.

Golden State also ratcheted up their defensive effort in the third. The Warriors held the Blazers to just 21 points in the quarter. Portland had scored 37 and 30 points in the first and second quarters respectively. Golden State also forced Portland into four turnovers, which lead to seven points for the Warriors.

“It’s what they do. They put a run on you,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “A 19-to-1 run … they just had a lot of momentum and it was transition, it was 3s, it was good defense and we didn’t respond well enough.”

Golden State’s third half resurgence can likely be traced back to assistant Mike Brown’s halftime speech. Brown was filling in for Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who missed the game due to illness. And while Brown has been a familiar voice all season, Golden State wasn’t responding defensively in the first half. But after Brown relayed an amusing exchange between him and Warriors GM Bob Meyers to his team, the Warriors responded to his pleading.

“I was a little nervous at halftime,” Brown said. “When I was walking to the back, Meyers came to me and said ‘Hey, we’re going to replace you at halftime with Ron Adams, cause you’re not defending. And Ron’s going to get the team to defend.’ He hit me with that. I pleaded to the guys that I wanted to coach in the second half and they responded.”

Brown coaching the Warriors in Game 3 came out of nowhere. At shootaround Saturday morning, the Warriors said Kerr was out with an illness and provided no further detail. The hope was that Kerr would be ready by game time but if not, Brown would act as the team’s head coach.

Kerr did not feel better unfortunately, so Brown stepped in and his coaching decisions and substitution patterns were key to their victory according to the Warriors.

“Well, we know he’s comfortable in that position and he’s got a ton of playoff experience,” Thompson said. “He’s been a head coach in this league a long time, a very successful one. Obviously we miss Steve but Mike did a tremendous job and he’s been there before, you could tell. We appreciated his composure. He was tremendous.”

Brown may likely have to coach the rest of the series and perhaps even in the second round as Kerr’s illness may linger and could possibly be linked to his back surgery, according to multiple reports, which kept out of a good portion of last season. Yet Kerr’s absence, while troubling to hear about from a human perspective, isn’t cause for concern from a basketball standpoint. Brown is a veteran coach that has experience coaching superstar players like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Plus, he has been with the Warriors all season and Golden State is too talented and deep to all of sudden start trending backwards just because Kerr isn’t there.

This proved to be the case in Game 3. Without Kevin Durant, Shaun Livingston and Matt Barnes, the Warriors just overwhelmed the Blazers. Golden State got another huge performance from JaVale McGee, who finished with a plus-24 due to his 14 points and four rebounds.

“You guys saw, he was fantastic,” Brown said about McGee. “His length, his size, his athleticism — we really felt affected the game on both ends of the floor.”

Besides the excellent contributions from McGee, the Warriors also got a solid performance from Patrick McCaw. The Warriors rookie finished with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in 28 minutes.

This is the ultimate difference in the series for the Warriors. Sure, they are uber talented with Thompson, Curry, Green and even Durant when he’s healthy, but their depth with players like Andre Iguodala, McCaw, McGee and Ian Clark is just too much for Portland to handle. Even with injuries to a key player like Durant and also with Kerr being out, the Warriors have the ultimate next man up attitude and have the players and coaching staff to back it up. All of this has overwhelmed Portland throughout the series and exposes their flaws.

The Blazers do have talent and one of the best backcourts in the league with Lillard and CJ McCollum, but they can only do so much.

Portland also has solid players in Maurice Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu, Evan Turner and Allen Crabbe. Yet against the Warriors, all four players have experienced middling success at best. Harkless was especially brutal in Game 3, missing all four of his shots and finishing with just one point and one rebound. Crabbe was only slightly better, scoring six points in 22 minutes.

Portland’s depth at center is even more suspect. With Nurkic playing limited minutes and likely appearing just in Game 3, the Blazers lack the necessary rim protection in order to be a strong defensive team. Noah Vonleh has shown signs of progress but he is still quite raw. And then there’s Meyers Leonard, who is simply unplayable. Without a true presence in the middle, the Blazers have lost the rebounding battle in all three games and been outscored in the paint in Games 2 and 3.

Portland, however, embodies the spirit of Lillard as the Blazers follow the lead of their star guard. Lillard has a never quit attitude and will do everything he can to empower his teammates and lead his team to victory in Game 4 on Monday. But the odds are even more insurmountable than before as no team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit.

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The Blazers will try, though, because that’s all they can do against an elite team like the Warriors.

“At the end of the day, we’ve still got games to play,” Lillard said. “Right now, you’ve got to have some pride in having a sweep on the line and try to go get this next one on Monday and go from there a game at a time.”