Golden State @ Portland preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 19, 2017 ) Portland 81, Golden State 110

The Golden State Warriors made the decision to sit Kevin Durant with a minor calf injury in Game 2 and turned out to have no problem winning a playoff game without one of their All-Stars in an easy win. The Warriors will try to earn a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.

Golden State got contributions up and down the roster in Game 2 and breezed to a 110-81 win, putting on a defensive clinic in the second half and holding the Trail Blazers to 12 points in the third quarter as it pulled away. "A lot of people do talk about the four (All-Stars), but the one thing that’s constant is we get contributions from everybody," defensive anchor Draymond Green told reporters after the win. "It's the depth we rely on throughout the course of the year, and it showed through tonight." The Trail Blazers, who blamed themselves for missing shots and mostly brushed off the sub-par showing, understand how important Saturday's Game 3 became when they fell on Wednesday. "It’s a must-win game, for sure,” Maurice Harkless told the team's website. "We’ve got to win that game. If we want a chance to win the series, we have to win Game 3."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), KGW (Portland)

ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Durant said he would have been able to go in Game 2 but the team decided to take the cautious approach and could elect to do the same on Saturday, though Durant wants to be in the lineup. "I can tell you, I've seen these injuries before," Kerr told reporters prior to Game 2 "You don't want the next step. You pull a calf, that's a pretty serious deal. He's bummed out -- he wants to play, for sure -- but he knows that we've got to do the wise thing, we've got to do the smart thing long term. It just doesn't make sense. He understands that." Durant would get a full seven days off if Golden State elects to hold him out of Game 3.

ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS: Portland's star backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined for 75 points in Game 1 but was held to 23 on 9-of-34 shooting in Game 2. "It's a series and points don't carry over, so you can't get too emotional or too low about the kind of game we had tonight," Lillard told reporters after Wednesday's setback. The Trail Blazers could also use some defensive presence on the interior after allowing Golden State's center duo of Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee to go 12-of-15 from the field.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Trail Blazers C Jusuf Nurkic (fractured leg) sat out the first two games of the series and remains questionable for Game 3.

2. Golden State SF Matt Barnes (ankle) and PG Shaun Livingston (finger) are both day-to-day.

3. Portland swingman Allen Crabbe is 4-of-15 in the series, including 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

PREDICTION: Warriors 119, Trail Blazers 111