Warriors Blast Blazers 110-99, Take 3-0 Series Lead

It was deja vu all over again. Once again the Portland Trail Blazers took a hefty lead. Once again they led at halftime. Once again the team completely fell apart in the third quarter. Once again the Golden State Warriors celebrated, while the Blazers wonder what went wrong.

Portland blew another 17-point lead with a horrific third quarter and fell to the Warriors, 110-99. The team shot 4-of-17 from the field in the third quarter and committed six turnovers. Meyers Leonard did what he could, scoring 16 points and rallying the squad with big plays. Stephen Curry had 36 for the Warriors.

Here are tonight’s takeaways:

• Failure to Transition: When the Warriors were pushed back throughout the game, one thing kept them in it: the transition game of Draymond Green. Seemingly every time Green grabbed a rebound, he sprinted down the court for an uncontested shot or free throws. Golden State scored 21 points in transition.
• Falling Stars: While Meyers Leonard had his best game of the season, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum picked a bad game to not keep up. McCollum shot just 7-of-20, Lillard was 5-of-18, and the duo combined for 5-of-19 from three and six turnovers.
• Poor Shot Selection: While the Blazers had the lead, the team seemed far more focused on burning clock time than pushing the advantage. As a result, the Blazers settled for bad shots and allowed the Warriors to get back into the game.
• Free Throws Not Free: Portland missed an astounding 13 free throws. Every player who took free throws except for Leonard missed at least one. The charity stripe was a disaster from the word go.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Game Four is Monday in Portland.

BOX SCORE