Warriors 'amazing in third quarter and down stretch' in Game 2 win over Blazers, says Steve Kerr
Friday 17 May 2019 09:20, UK
Head coach Steve Kerr said his Golden State Warriors players were "amazing in the third quarter and down the stretch" in the Game 2 comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The defending NBA champions, playing without injured star Kevin Durant, ended the first half trailing 65-50 and their deficit grew to 17 points when CJ McCollum drained a pull-up jumper at the start of the third quarter.
However, hot three-point shooting from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson inspired a 39-24 third-quarter run that dragged the Warriors back into contention, tying the game at 89-89.
With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Blazers had restored an eight-point advantage but strong two-way play from Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala fuelled a 14-3 rally that sealed a 114-111 Warriors' win.
Speaking at the post-game news conference, Kerr hailed the "competitive fire" of his team.
"The NBA game is a long, long game. There are so many possessions. With our team we always feel like we have a chance. We kept playing and our guys got it done," he said.
"They were amazing in that third quarter and down the stretch as well. We stole that game. I thought [Portland] outplayed us for much of the night, the majority of the night, but we brought enough competitive fire in the second half to overcome their great play. We've been here before. I think our experience helped us. Yeah, we stole it for sure. They outplayed us."
Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum agreed with Kerr's assessment. "They stole it, but they earned it down the stretch," he said. "They made more plays than us in the last two minutes, last three minutes, but I like our chances going forward. I like the way we came out and competed. We got to bring that same energy at home."
Curry, who scored a game-high 37 points, said the Warriors' game-changing third-quarter run was inspired by their coach. "We got challenged at half-time [by coach Steve Kerr] to play with more energy, more fight and more competitiveness, to find that edge when our back were against the wall," he said.
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"We competed and it was an exciting brand of basketball for those 12 minutes and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game down the stretch."
Golden State forward Draymond Green attributed the Warriors' fightback to their 'strength in numbers' team ethic, Curry and Thompson's shooting and the team's extensive postseason experience.
"We were down 17 points in the third quarter and we could have folded but those guys continue to will us on both sides of the ball and got us back in the game," he said.
"Everybody who touched the floor, whether it was from the bench or starters, everybody was playing hard. We finally gained some traction and were able to turn the game around.
"We've been here before. And when you are on a run like we are currently in, you've seen everything. And so we're down eight points with what, four minutes to go or whatever it was, just got to keep going, because we know we can erase eight points in a minute.
"Understanding that, and having confidence in that is key, but at the same time, understanding what it takes and what needs to be done in order to do that is just as important I think our experience really paid off tonight."
Green's sentiments were echoed by shooting guard Thompson. "All it takes is one or two [made] shots to get going. Luckily I hit them in a timely fashion as we needed to hit a couple of three-balls to spread the court," he said.
"You can definitely credit it to experience. I mean, when you play in 100-plus playoff games, I'm not going to say it feels normal but it feels like you've been there before, and even being down eight with six minutes left, we knew the game was far from out of reach.
"That line-up, you know, me, Andre [Iguodala] Steph [Curry] and Draymond logged a lot of minutes of basketball together and [when you throw [Kevon] Looney in there who was special tonight, that's a mini-death line-up in itself."
Game 3 takes place in Portland in the early hours of Sunday morning live on Sky Sports Arena.
