Warriors Take Game 1 Behind Klay Thompson’s 37 Points

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The Golden State Warriors defended its home court over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1. With Klay Thompson scoring 37 points and Draymond Green having a 23-13-11 line, the Warriors won 118-106. The game was much more lopsided than the final score indicates.

For Portland, part of the game-long trouble finding a rhythm can be attributed to a quick turnaround between a Game 6 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and Game 1 in Oakland. Damian Lillard took 26 shots and only made eight of them on his path to 30 points. C.J. McCollum went 5-17 for 12 points.

Overall, the Warriors shot 47.3 percent from the field, 35.5 percent on threes, and had 12 turnovers. The Blazers were 40.2 percent from the floor and 32.3 percent from deep. They had 9 turnovers.

Of course, the common talking point after Game 1 has been Golden State’s impressive play without Stephen Curry. Steve Kerr mentioned it being unlikely that Curry would be good for Game 2, however, a Game 3 return seems possible. During his time on the sidelines, Curry has energetically supported his teammates and appeared genuinely happy for their success.

Thompson and Green will receive the majority of the shine, and in part that’s fair. That dynamic accounted for, the Warriors are hugely impacted by players such as Shaun Livingston and Andrew Bogut. Livingston committed just a single turnover in Game 1 (he played nearly 30 minutes). He had 12 points and 6 assists. Bogut put up 10 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks. Harrison Barnes also had a double-double with a 12/10 game.

On Portland’s side, Allen Crabbe had an impressive showing. The Cal product had 15 points and 6 rebounds on 6-9 shooting. I doubt the Blazers want Al-Farouq Aminu chucking 8 threes, a stat he reached in Game 1, but he did manage to have 15 points in about 25 minutes.

The takeaway to have is that there’s simply no way Portland will be able to take this series. Even with Portland’s quick series-to-series turnaround acknowledged, they were largely overpowered by both the Warriors fire power and home crowd. That’s without Curry even playing. Given the possibility of Curry returning with his squad already up in the series, is there a logical argument one can make that Portland has a chance?

Doubtful. For now, we wait until Game 2 with the Warriors up 1-0. That will be Tuesday, 5/3 at 10:30 PM ET. It’s worth noting that Game 3 won’t be until Saturday, 5/7. It remains to be seen what that break period means for Curry.

 

 

Portland
Player	Pos	Min	FGM-FGA	FTM-FTA	3PM-3PA	+/-	OR	Reb	A	Blk	Stl	TO	PF	Pts
M. Harkless	F	28:21	4-12	1-3	1-5	-20	2	3	1	0	1	1	1	10
A. Aminu	F	25:20	6-13	0-0	3-8	-25	3	4	1	2	0	3	1	15
M. Plumlee	C	25:14	0-7	1-2	0-0	-18	2	12	6	2	0	2	3	1
D. Lillard	G	41:44	8-26	10-10	4-8	-19	0	0	5	0	4	1	3	30
C.J. McCollum	G	40:29	5-17	2-2	0-4	-10	0	3	3	1	1	0	2	12
A. Crabbe		33:54	6-9	3-3	0-3	+2	0	6	3	0	1	0	2	15
E. Davis		18:48	5-6	1-1	0-0	+8	3	7	3	0	0	0	6	11
G. Henderson		16:50	2-3	0-0	1-1	+2	0	3	3	1	0	2	1	5
B. Roberts		6:26	1-1	0-0	0-0	+11	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
P. Connaughto		1:08	1-2	0-0	1-2	+3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3
L. Montero		0:53	1-1	0-0	0-0	+3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
N. Vonleh		0:53	0-0	0-0	0-0	+3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
C. Kaman	DNP — COACH’S DECISION
C. Alexander	DNP — INACTIVE
M. Leonard	DNP — INACTIVE
Totals		240	39-97 (.402)	18-21 (.857)	10-31 (.323)	–	10	40	26	6	7	9	19	106

 

Golden State
Player	Pos	Min	FGM-FGA	FTM-FTA	3PM-3PA	+/-	OR	Reb	A	Blk	Stl	TO	PF	Pts
H. Barnes	F	37:59	4-7	1-2	1-3	+13	3	12	0	0	2	3	4	10
D. Green	F	37:19	6-14	9-9	2-5	+24	4	13	11	3	1	2	2	23
A. Bogut	C	24:51	5-8	0-0	0-1	+15	3	12	0	3	2	1	5	10
K. Thompson	G	37:02	14-28	2-3	7-14	+23	2	5	5	0	2	2	1	37
S. Livingston	G	28:47	4-9	4-4	0-0	+21	0	4	6	0	0	1	3	12
A. Iguodala		28:15	1-3	4-4	0-1	-5	1	4	3	0	0	1	1	6
L. Barbosa		14:02	2-4	1-2	1-1	-2	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	6
I. Clark		7:55	2-7	0-0	0-3	-7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
B. Rush		7:40	0-1	0-0	0-1	-11	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
M. Speights		7:59	3-7	0-0	0-2	-11	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	6
A. Varejao		6:58	2-3	0-0	0-0	+3	1	2	1	2	1	0	2	4
J. McAdoo		1:13	0-0	0-0	0-0	-3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
F. Ezeli	DNP — COACH’S DECISION
S. Curry	DNP — INACTIVE
K. Looney	DNP — INACTIVE
Totals		240	43-91 (.473)	21-24 (.875)	11-31 (.355)	–	16	55	27	8	8	12	22	118

 

Officials: Monty McCutchen, James Capers, John Goble Time of Game: 2:22

Technicals Portland – G. Henderson (3:29 – 3rd Qtr) – G. Henderson (0:15 – 3rd Qtr) Golden State – A. Varejao (3:29 – 3rd Qtr) – A. Varejao (0:15 – 3rd Qtr)