Trail Blazers vs Warriors: Game 5 Score, Twitter Reaction from 2016 NBA Playoffs

The Portland Trail Blazers were a formidable, relentless and worthy adversary of the Golden State Warriors. And yet, the defending NBA champions were still able to dispatch the feisty No. 5 seed in five games with a 125-121 win at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night. 

It didn’t come easy by any means, but the Warriors held off a late surge from Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum before Stephen Curry drilled a step-back, fall-away three over Al-Farouq Aminu with 24 seconds to go to give the Warriors a five-point lead.

The MVP splashed home a dagger to seal the series ????https://t.co/lI2et4GfzB

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 12, 2016

Curry, who accepted his second straight MVP from commissioner Adam Silver prior to tipoff, didn’t quite resemble the player who erupted for 17 points in overtime just two days earlier. However, that’s not to say he didn’t fill it up. 

Curry continued to shake off rust that accumulated during his two-week absence, and his night culminated with a couple of outrageous triples over the game’s final four minutes to send the Warriors to their second straight Western Conference Finals, as the Orange County Register’s Dan Woike noted: 

League is watered down…cuz Curry has rained 3’s all over it

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) May 12, 2016

Curry finished with 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting (5-of-11 from three) and 11 assists, while Thompson similarly starred in the closeout effort. Not only did Thompson notch his seventh consecutive playoff game with at least 20 points, per Warriors PR on Twitter, but he recorded a team-high 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three.  

Draymond Green, who told reporters he thought the Blazers were done following Game 4, according to ESPN.com’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss, rattled off 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists despite coming up gimpy in the second half. 

Lillard and McCollum led the Blazers with 28 and 27 points, respectively, and Allen Crabbe was huge off the bench as he poured in 20 points (7-of-9 shooting, 5-of-7 from three). In fact, that trio, along with Aminu (16 points, nine rebounds) gave the Dubs fits throughout the first half before the Warriors accelerated into fifth gear.  

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons was among those who praised Portland’s resilient effort throughout the series: 

Portland played really well in this series. They’ve had like 3 bad quarters out of 18 (and one bad OT). I’ve enjoyed watching them.

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 12, 2016

The Blazers opened up a 10-point lead, 18-8, five minutes into the first quarter, and knocked down six treys during the game’s first 12 minutes, to boot. 

But despite thoroughly outplaying a Warriors team that came out sloppy through the first quarter, the Blazers didn’t have a particularly large scoring margin to show for it.  

The reason? Just some typical Warriors tomfoolery from Curry and Co. that helped fuel a big run as the period progressed:  

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To their credit, the Blazers withstood a couple of powerful counterpunches and continued to frustrate the …

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