This is an entertaining Western Conference NBA finals matchup between Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers, at Oracle Arena, the home of Golden State. It is NBA playoffs and we are going to see game 2 of the series so please review our thoughts here below.

 

Golden State Warriors

Warriors have been looking fantastic lately. Despite Kevin Durant’s injury, they managed to close out Western Conference semi-finals series against Houston Rockets. Also, in game 1 against Portland, they took an easy win and it is very impressive as they are missing one of the best players in the world.

Warriors’ key to victory is the spectacular leadership of Stephen Curry. He is on fire since KD was injured. He scored 36pts with 60% shooting from 3pt line and also dished out 7 assists, last night. His splash brother, Klay Thompson also did very well as he scored 26pts.

Without Kevin Durant, Warriors basketball is different and that different is very good. Golden State always moves the basketball, are looking for an open shot and also their assist total went up. With KD, Warriors look very reliable to one player and without him, they play as a team. It reminds us of the good old 2015 Warriors, their playstyle is entertaining to watch and efficient as never before.

Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins will not play in this game due to injury.

Warriors best scoring players of the playoffs: Kevin Durant (34.2pts, 5.2rebs, 4.9ass), Steph Curry (25.2pts, 5.7rebs, 5.2ass), Klay Thompson (18.8pts, 3.7rebs).

 

Portland Trail Blazers

Portland came to this series after an exciting game 7 wins against Denver Nuggets. After devastating Jusuf Nurkic’s injury in the regular season, everyone thought that they will exit early in the playoffs. However, Portland is shocking the world and managed to come to the Western Conference finals.

The biggest reason for winning was great performances by the dynamic duo in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They both been sharing the rock and showed great results in the postseason. Also, Enes Kanter stepped up and is a great fit for the Trail Blazers as Nurkic is out.

The thing that I like in this Blazers team is that their leaders are not “ball-hogging” and if they see that it is not their day, they decide to pass it around until a good shot. This might help Portland to try to win a couple of games in this series.

Last game against the Warriors was not going their way. The shots were not falling, the defense was not very good and all of their leaders had a bad night. One bright thing was the play of Rodney Hood who scored 17pts, and overall he is a great player in the postseason. Hood brings some good energy off the bench and is not afraid to score in late-game moments.

Portland has no injured players.

Blazers best scoring players of the playoffs: Damian Lillard (27.7pts, 6.0ass, 1.8stls), CJ McCollum (24.9pts, 5.5rebs), Enes Kanter (12.7pts, 10.9rebs)

 

H2H

So we saw only one game in this series and it was a blowout in the Warriors. Surely, Golden State is looking to hold on home advantage, but if Portland wants to at least have a chance to win this series, it is a must-win for them. In game 1 Curry and Klay were on fire, but McCollum and Lillard weren’t. It will not be that way forever and I think that the Blazers should show some more fight in other games of the series.

 

Article Image Taken from https://www.news.com.au/sport/american-sports/nba/steph-curry-scores-33-points-in-early-blitz-against-younger-brother-seths-blazers/news-story/791e3f55a4bf0f656027e3d386303868