The Golden State Warriors spent 42 minutes and seven seconds of Game 2 on Tuesday chasing the Portland Trailblazers on the court and on the scoreboard. Behind a well-executed Blazer defensive scheme and a concerted effort by guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to pass the ball and get teammates involved, Portland jumped out early on the Warriors, leading by as many as 17 points in the first half. With Andrew Bogut struggling to contain the explosive Lillard on defense, Steve Kerr turned to an unlikely person to play hero: backup center Festus Ezeli. The man affectionately known as “Swagzeli” was able to answer the coach’s call and save the day with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 13 minutes of quick-footed defense off the bench. Festus’ brief second half run helped change the tenor of the game and allowed his team to finally secure a lead for a thrilling victory and 2-0 series lead.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Game 2 comeback:
1. In a span of less than 48 hours, Festus went from “DNP-CD” to “hero of the game.” With Bogut too slow to track Lillard on the 1-5 pick-and-roll, Kerr finally relented and inserted the more mobile but inconsistent big man. Ezeli didn’t disappoint as he scored the Warriors’ first eight points of the fourth quarter and, more importantly, was fantastic corralling Lillard and McCollum on pick-and-roll actions on the perimeter. In one especially dominating sequence, Festus was able to slow CJ on the ball screen and still recover in the lane to block Mason Plumlee from behind. After a jittery first-round showing, and not playing a single minute in Game 1, Festus made the most of his brief run in Game 2, and exposed another weapon that the Warriors have at their disposal.
2. One game after a dominating two-way performance from Andrew Bogut, the Aussie finished a team-worst minus-13 and looked slow and borderline unplayable in the Blazers’ pick-and-roll scheme. That’s the way it goes with Bogut sometimes. At 31 years old, the big man toggles between great and not-so-great nights on the regular. Fortunately, the reemergence of Ezeli will help mask some of those down nights.
3. Klay Thompson shot only 7-of-20 in the contest, a likely result of Terry Stotts’ move to put the taller Mo Harkless on him. Klay especially struggled in the first half where he missed six of his nine shots and scored only seven points. Dude was so flustered at one point that he even took a one-legged running 3-pointer, which we haven’t seen him do since his shaky playoff series against Denver two season ago (though the shot did miraculously go in). But credit the other Splash Brother as he was able to score 27 points on the night while chasing Lillard into a similar 8-of-20 shooting performance. He also hit an ice-cold flick-of-the-wrist 3-pointer in the fourth quarter that gave the Warriors their first lead of the game. With Steph out of the lineup, the Warriors need Klay to get buckets, even if they come at a Kobe Bryant-esque shooting volume.
4. Draymond Green, I love you. I love all 17 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks, and the countless “And 1!” screams from you. I hope you never change. K.I.T. (But not with Mason Plumlee. That guy’s probably sick of seeing you and your long-armed, immovable-body defense.)
5. The Blazers need to get more offense from Mo Harkless’ position. The Dubs left him wide open all night and Harkless couldn’t make them pay, shooting 1-of-5 from downtown. If he can’t hit a jumper, Bogut (the man “guarding” him) can freelance on D and clog the lane to thwart drives and block shots. Maybe Stotts would consider starting Allen Crabbe, a 39% shooter from deep during the regular season.
6. Mo Speights went 0-of-4 in four minutes. With Mo, at least he’s courteous and let’s you know quickly when it isn’t his night …
7. … as opposed to Anderson Varejao, who continues to get the first big man minutes off the bench. Hopefully with Festus showing signs of life we won’t have to watch AV go for a minus-2 again.
8. Andre Iguodala wasn’t only a facilitator and defender off the bench, but also a key scorer in this game. When the team was struggling to score in the first half, Andre was able to keep the game from becoming a total blowout by scoring 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from the field. He finished the game with a 15-5-4-2 line while also spending the bulk of his time defending the Blazers’ guards. Iguodala is playing some of his best ball since that long absence with an ankle injury.
9. One glaring weakness for the Blazers is that they can’t hide both Lillard and McCollum against this Warriors lineup. The Dubs’ guards and wings are just too big and too strong, and can too easily post them up for easy scores or pass over the top of their outstretched arms. Dray, HB, and Shaun Livingston again relentlessly hunted Dame each time they had the matchup with an advantageous shot clock.
10. Even when the Blazers were up by 17 points, I never felt the Warriors were out of the game. Sure, Portland had an edge in intensity and effort (especially in the early going), but they also got ridiculous makes from Lillard, a couple of unlikely threes from Gerald Henderson, and Al-Farouq Aminu shot lights out in the first-half. On the other side, Klay had a cold shooting night, and Mo, Dray and Livingston all shot sub-50%. Part of that was a result of the more intense Blazers defense, but another part was just the Warriors missing shots they usually make. Even without Stephen Curry, these Warriors are good enough to pull out this series if they continue to play this manic style of defense and allow the offense to come via the D — if they can abstain from forcing unnecessary shots and passes, all the better. In other words, if the Dubs just play the entire 48 minutes like they did the final five minutes and 53 seconds of the fourth quarter, where they outscored the Blazers 19-6 before a meaningless layup at the end, they should be just fine.