Don’t worry, so was I. But my job is to write about basketball, so I went back and watched the second half of last night’s Golden State and Portland game and my goodness, it’s a freaking shame that more than half the country was sleeping for this game.
My observations on the first half: Steph Curry, who came off the bench, looked really rusty. He air balled a shot, which I didn’t think was possible. He also threw an easy pass out of bounds. Portland came out hot, leading 21-5 at one point in the first quarter. The Blazers went to score 41 points in the second quarter and C.J. McCollum had this sick hesitation move on Draymond Green.
A little hesitation move then a Euro-Step. CJ is off to a hot start in #RipCity! #NBAVine https://t.co/QQpYaR2tUH
Now, to the second half…
Curry went back to being an alien. The Warriors outscored the Blazers by nine in the second half to force an overtime. Curry went off for 17 of his team’s 21 points in overtime, including the first 12 points.
If you’re the Blazers, what else can you ask for? Damian Lillard went for 35 and McCollum added 24. This was the game for them to win. Is it possible the worst thing to happen to the Blazers is that Shaun Livingston got ejected? Probably. If Livingston is able to play, there’s probably no way Curry plays 37 minutes, right?
Curry ended up with 40 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while shooting 16-for-32 from the field and 5-for-16 from the 3-point line.
Steph Curry is back. That’s not good for the Western Conference, but it’s good for the rest of us.
With the win, the Warriors lead 3-1 in the series. Game 5 will be on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m.
Try to stay awake.
And in all honesty, it wasn’t nearly as exciting as the late game. I’m sorry, but DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry shooting a combined 6-for-28 doesn’t really doesn’t do it for me.
Dwyane Wade on the other hand…
You get the feeling that Wade was giving 70 percent throughout the regular season so he could give 157 percent in the playoffs. Wade was great last night, finishing with 30 points, including the game-tying finger roll with 12.6 seconds left to force overtime.
Dwyane Wade takes control to even up #RAPTORSvHEAT 2-2! https://t.co/GIWVRBM3ov
Wade stole the ball from Terrence Ross with 17.8 seconds left in overtime, leading to a dunk, clinching the win for the Heat. That’s kind of been the series in a nut shell. The Raptors should beat the Heat, but Wade is willing Miami to wins and the Raptors have just made very poor basketball decisions.
It doesn’t help when your two best players are playing as miserable as Lowry and DeRozan have played.
In the playoffs, Lowry is averaging 15 points, 6.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds, while shooting 33.1 percent from the field and… 19.7 PERCENT FROM THE 3-POINT LINE!
And this isn’t a super small sample size. I mean, 11 games is a decent amount of time, right?
DeRozan has been worse, shooting 33 percent from the field and 15.8 percent from the 3-point line.
When you consider how bad those two have played, it’s probably a blessing this series is tied at 2-2.
Game 5 will be on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
