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The Golden State Warriors entered the fourth quarter on Tuesday night trailing by 11 points, the largest deficit they had faced at home this season. Perhaps you should have known what was coming. After all, the Warriors had rallied from nine down, eight down and seven down entering the fourth during the regular season, and they won all three games. They one-upped those by rallying to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 and take a 2-0 series lead.
The Warriors won on the strength of their defense. They allowed 12 points in the fourth quarter, matching the fewest they’ve yielded in the fourth quarter of a postseason game. The previous instances came in 1975 against the Bulls and 2015 against the Cavaliers. Both of those seasons ended with Warriors winning championships. Speaking of defense, Draymond Green again proved to be impossible to go up against. The Trail Blazers were 2-of-9 during the game with Green as the primary defender; they are 4-of-20 on such shots in the series. Green had 17 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks, the first player to reach all of those numbers in a playoff game since Tim Duncan in 2003. The Warriors outscored the Trail Blazers by 22 points in the final 12 minutes, which Elias Sports Bureau research notes is their best fourth-quarter differential since Game 4 of the 1987 Western Conference semifinals against the Lakers (also plus-22). In that contest, the Warriors' Sleepy Floyd scored 51 points, including 29 in the fourth quarter of an eight-point victory. Golden State made 7-of-8 uncontested shots in the fourth quarter on Tuesday. The Trail Blazers made 17-of-23 uncontested shots in the first three quarters but only 2-of-5 in the fourth. Klay Thompson was among those who got going late, scoring 20 of his 27 points in the second half. Thompson struggled with smaller and quicker defenders, going 0-of-6 against the Blazers' starting backcourt. But as the game progressed, Thompson found himself matched against 6-foot-9 Maurice Harkless, and Thompson scored 18 of his 27 against him. Thompson's backcourt counterpart Damian Lillard was a nonfactor in the final 12 minutes, going 0-of-3 with no points. Through the first three quarters, Lillard had 25 points on 8-17 shooting. Looking ahead
NBA teams that won 65 or more games in the regular season are 35-0 when taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.
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