The Golden State Warriors sealed a playoff series sweep over the Portland Trail Blazers three minutes into the first quarter of Game 4. It was that ugly.
A 14-0 run started things off, and nothing got better for Portland. It was a reminder of how last season’s winningest team in NBA history added Kevin Durant.
It’s tough to see this team losing in a seven-game series when it shoots as well as it did on Monday night.
Steph Curry was unreal
We’ve grown accustomed to his greatness, but Curry was particularly spectacular in this one.
On 20 shots he scored 37 points and shot 7-of-11 from deep. He danced off the dribble, fired from range, and distributed the ball everywhere. He finished with eight assists and seven rebounds.
He was launching like last year’s Curry, who we’ve seen a lot of as of recently.
There’s not much a team can do when this is going down.
Kevin Durant was on a minutes restriction and it did not matter
After missing two games it was good to see Durant on the floor, but he wasn’t needed.
He scored 10 points on seven shots in 20 minutes and looked good as new.
At full strength, this Warriors team is as nasty as we thought, and Durant was huge contributor to what tied an NBA record for most points in a first quarter in the playoffs. The team scored an astounding 45.
CJ McCollum was ice cold
Portland was able to compete to start this series because its backcourt played out of their minds. Damian Lillard showed up for Game 4, with 34 points on 12-of-24 shooting, but McCollum was nowhere to be found.
The Blazers couldn’t afford anything short of perfection to win a game against the Warriors.
McCollum had a mere six points on 2-of-12 shooting and missed all four of his three-point attempts.
Luckily this team will retain much of its roster, and hope for a full and healthy season from Jusuf Nurkic.
Blazers fans have a lot to look forward to.