Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers Proving They Won’t Go Quietly Against the Warriors

Give the Portland Trail Blazers this: They aren’t going to roll over.

No, there isn’t a high likelihood they’ll win their second-round series against the Golden State Warriors—especially with Stephen Curry getting ever closer to a return, which could come as soon as Monday’s Game 4.

But in Saturday’s 120-108 win at the Moda Center, which cut the Warriors’ series lead to 2-1, they proved themselves a worthy opponent to the defending champions.

After they previously blew a 17-point lead in Oakland on Tuesday, the Blazers knew they had missed an opportunity. A win in that game would have stolen home-court advantage from the Warriors and put some serious pressure on Steve Kerr to either rush Curry back or over-adjust his rotations to react.

“I was pretty hot about that one,” Lillard said after that game, per Erik Gundersen of the Columbian. “Not only was it a great opportunity but we had it. It was right there.”

That comeback win gave the Warriors a cushion—they could afford to drop a game in Portland, or maybe even two, and still sit in the driver’s seat of the series. Even with Saturday’s loss, the team that has not lost consecutive games all season only must get two of the next four to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Still, the imminent return of Curry (who is scheduled to participate in three-on-three scrimmaging Sunday, according to Kerr, via ESPN.com’s Kevin Arnovitz) is at this point a welcome prospect for the Warriors, who have every incentive to put this series away soon …

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