NBA playoffs on May 16: Trail Blazers were good, Warriors were better

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The Golden State Warriors continued their winning streak at home after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 114-111 at the Oracle Arena on Thursday, giving them a 2-0 lead in the 2019 Western Conference Finals.

Golden State's Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson together dropped 61 points and buried eight three-pointers overshadowing Portland's Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum who had 45 points and eight 3-pointers together.

Trail Blazers make correct changes

C.J. McCollum #3 of the Portland Trail Blazers shoots in the game they lose against the Golden State Warriors 114-111 at the Oracle Arena, May 16, 2019. /VCG Photo

Having apparently learned their lesson from the Game 1 loss, Portland replaced their usual defensive model of "center remaining under the rim while others cover their own targets" with "everybody keep their eyes on Curry and Thompson." Portland's center often stepped out of the free throw line to chase Curry and Thompson towards two elbow areas and their forwards did not hesitate to double team the Splash Brothers on screen plays.

The Trail Blazers' intention was clear: to force the ball out of the hands of Curry and Thompson while making every shot they took as difficult as possible. The new way worked as the Warriors only buried nine 3-pointers. Though eight of them came from Curry and Thompson, it took the Splash Brothers 22 attempts to do it.

Damian Lillard #0 of the Trail Blazers shoots in the game against the Warriors, May 16, 2019. /VCG Photo

On offense, Lillard from the beginning tried shooting farther away from the basket to avoid the double teams. He and McCollum also enhanced their breakthrough to create open 3-point opportunities for their teammates. Fortunately for Portland, the team's role players made 10 3-pointers, punishing the Warriors' defense for leaving them open.

Thanks to the above tactics, the Trail Blazers managed to lead 65-50 after the first half and again 108-100 in the fourth quarter.

Warriors have better response

Stephen Curry #30 of the Warriors shoots in the game against the Trail Blazers, May 16, 2019. /VCG Photo

Golden State struggled offensively and defensively in the first half. They only made three 3-pointers at the rate of 23.08 percent while watching Portland sink 11 at the rate of 50 percent in the first half. The defending champions also committed 10 turnovers, six of which were steals by the opponent during the same period. These mistakes were turned into Portland's lead of 18-3 in turnover points.

The good news for the Warriors was that they managed to hold on until the Trail Blazers began to miss shots and lose their focus, though only for a while. In two minutes, the Warriors launched a 13-0 run to narrow the score difference to three points (69-66).

Though Portland betted on their small-ball squad in the fourth quarter and again expanded their lead to eight points (108-100), Golden State already found the solution.

Draymond Green #23 of the Warriors shoots in the game against the Trail Blazers, May 16, 2019. /VCG Photo

Since Portland chose to double team Curry and had to keep a small-ball squad on the court for quickness, their basket was extremely vulnerable after Curry passed the ball to Draymond Green who could easily find open teammates close to the rim using player number advantage – Golden State claimed 14 points in this way in the last eight minutes of the game. Moreover, without real big men in their lineup, Portland could not compete with Golden State over rebounds.

Lillard had the chance to save his team in the last possession when the Trail Blazers trailed 114-111. However, unlike Paul George who watched him beat the buzzer, Andre Iguodala knocked down the ball from his hands when Lillard jumped to shoot, sealing the victory for the Warriors in Game 2.

An interesting brother contest

Seth Curry (L) of the Trail Blazers and Stephen Curry (R) of the Warriors in the game, May 16, 2019 /VCG Photo

Though Stephen Curry and Seth Curry are brothers, they've never shared the same stage because while Stephen was busy making 3-pt records and collecting rings, Seth had never played Conference Finals until this season.

Portland gave Seth an opportunity to compete with his brother Stephen on Thursday because the team had to rely on his quickness as a guard and 3-pointers as a shooter. Fairly speaking, Seth did well enough by making four 3-pointers to get the team's third-highest 16 points. He also had four steals and all of them were from Stephen.

Though Golden State enjoyed their win at home, the happiest people on Thursday night should be Seth and Stephen's parents, Dell and Sonya Curry.