Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 3 vs. Blazers
3. Containing Dame Is A Must
In Game 2, the Warriors saw a flash of what Damian Lillard is capable of when he dropped 17 third quarter points to help the Blazers build an 11-point lead. They smothered him in the fourth quarter with a nice goose egg, but in Game 3, Dame finally had the thoroughly dominant performance Rip City supporters have been waiting for.
Through the first two games, Lillard tallied a grand total of 55 points, 11 assists and four rebounds, shooting 16-for-46 from the floor (34.8 percent) and 10-for-19 from deep (52.6 percent). In Game 3 alone, Dame put up 40 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while shooting 14-from-27 from the field (51.9 percent) and 8-for-13 from three-point range (61.5 percent).
Klay Thompson did his part on the offensive end, but allowing Lillard to go off is the Warriors’ biggest priority on the defensive end. In Game 3, they failed in that category.
Dame Lillard back to back ridiculous 3-pointers against the Warriors pic.twitter.com/JlomQKYvOz
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) May 8, 2016
To be fair, holding down an All-NBA caliber player like Dame for an entire seven-game series is an unreasonable expectation. Heading back to Portland, where Lillard dropped a career-high 51 points on a fully healthy Warriors team back when they last met there, it was only a matter of time before he had a signature game for the Blazers.
But heading into Game 4, the Warriors have a chance to put Portland in a hole and close this thing out in five games. If Lillard gets into a rhythm like he did early in Game 3, we could be looking at a 2-2 series heading back to the Bay.
Next: No. 2