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OAKLAND –The one Warriors’ star has brought unmatched joy to empower his teammates. The other Warriors’ star has brought unintended humor to amuse his teammates. For now and always, though, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have remained linked for one important reason.
They represent the NBA’s best starting backcourt because they can both shoot from almost any distance. So in another game in which the Warriors tried to adjust without Kevin Durant, Curry and Thompson offered something familiar both before and during their current NBA championship run.
In the Warriors’ 114-111 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, Curry and Thompson made plenty of shots. Curry finished with 37 points while going 11-of-22 from the field, 4-of-14 from 3 and 11-of-11 from the free-throw line and a post-season high eight assists, a performance that cemented his third consecutive 30-point game. Thompson had 24 points while going 8-of-22 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep, marking the fourth consecutive game he scored without 25 points. All of which helped the Warriors turn a 17-point deficit into a 2-0 series lead entering Game 3 in Portland on Friday.
“Their leadership was huge. Everything was going against us,” Draymond Green said. “We could have folded, but those guys continued to will us on both sides of the ball and got us back in the game.”
With Durant, Curry and Thompson still symbolized the Warriors’ offense that featured a steady dose of ball movement and 3’s. Without Durant, Curry and Thompson simply exerted their workload. This marked the fourth time in this postseason the duo combined for 60 points. In related news, the Warriors have stayed undefeated when that has happened.
The Warriors are not exactly saying they are fine without Durant. They are feeling good, though, that they still have Curry and Thompson.
“Klay and Steph take on a bigger responsibility scoring-wise and they look to go into games more aggressively when Kevin is out,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They know they have to. We’re pretty dependent on their scoring when Kevin is not here.”
Curry and Thompson fulfilled that role in various ways.
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Curry gave the Warriors a 110-108 lead after making three foul shots with 2:01 remaining. Then Curry set up Draymond Green for an open layup that gave the Warriors a 114-111 cushion with 12.3 seconds remaining. And well before that, Curry kept the Warriors afloat with 19 first-half points on a 6-of-10 clip.
“We don’t change our personality or anything,” Curry said. “When you’re missing a guy like that that can produce 30 points, however many rebounds, and just creates so much attention, it changes the way you play a little bit but when we have those opportunities to be aggressive, we do what we do.”
One of the reasons the Warriors trailed 65-50 at halftime? Thompson had nine points while going only 3-of-11 from the field and 1-of-4 from 3. In the third quarter, Thompson became Klay again. He had 13 third-quarter points while going 4-of-6 overall and 3-of-3 from deep.
“8-for-22 is not the best percentage but I’m happy with the looks I got all night,” Thompson said. “Easily could be 11-for-22. Missed a couple layups and a couple jumpers, but you can never lose confidence. That’s the reason why is all is takes is one or two shots to get going. Luckily I made them in a timely fashion.”
The Warriors also relied on Green (16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists), Kevon Looney (14 points, seven rebounds) and Jordan Bell (11 points). Andre Iguodala also blocked Damian Lillard’s 3-point attempt with 4.2 seconds left.
But plenty of the work centered back to the Splash Brothers. It is a formula the Warriors will lean on for at least another week since Durant has yet to be cleared what the team called “live action” drills.” That is okay. The Warriors have leaned on their starting backcourt for quite some time now. The results have mostly been the same.
“They know who they are and they know our team,” Kerr said. “This team’s been together a long time and they trust each other.”
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