Late Saturday: Warriors beat Blazers for 3-0 West finals lead
Published 2:30 am Monday, May 20, 2019
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Draymond Green had 20 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-99 on Saturday night for a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Green had his seventh career postseason tripledouble and Stephen Curry scored 36 points for Golden State, which moved a win away from a fifth straight trip to the NBA finals with Game 4 set for Monday.
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CJ McCollum had 23 points for the Trail Blazers, who led by 18 points in the second quarter. Damian Lillard added 19 points, but Portland was hurt at the line, making just 20 of 33 attempts.
After trailing 66-53 at the half, the Warriors mounted a third-quarter comeback to lead 82-79 going into the fourth. Jonas Jerebko’s jumper pushed the lead to 90-82 with 7:26 left.
Curry’s 3-pointer made it 98-87 with just under five minutes to go, and Portland struggled to catch up — similar to their fourth-quarter fade in Game 2.
Game 3 was the first conference finals game in Portland since 2000. The Blazers lost that series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win in the playoffs. Only three series have gone to a seventh game after one team opened with a 3-0 lead.