Last Time They Met In The Playoffs: Warriors vs Blazers

Game 2 for the Warriors vs. Trailblazers will be on Wednesday, April 19 at 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT at the Oracle Arena, Oakland. After only recently returning to action since suffering his injury at the end of February, Kevin Durant is making his playoff debut for Golden State on Sunday.

To be fair, anyone in Lillard's shoes should be confident if his team is going into the playoffs, even if the opponent is the best team in the National Basketball Association. Right there, that hurt us. He's one of the NBA's smartest players. It's hard to bounce back like that against a team like that.

Battle of the backcourts - One of the must-see matchups of the first round will be Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson vs. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

But he was part of a 135-90 debacle on December 17 here — the Warriors' largest margin of victory in the rivalry — that prompted coach Terry Stotts to say afterward, "It's embarrassing to get beat by 45".

At one point, however, there was a fleeting moment when they had everyone in the arena convinced they were breaking into one of their signature, third quarter thrillers. "No, we were talking back and forth the entire game, but that's just a part of the game". That's just what the game tells you to do, to respect your opponent.

So, the 1st seed Warriors are going to take on the 8th seed Blazers. We can't expect to win because everybody else is expecting us to win, or [because] we had a better record, or what looks good on paper.

Lillard said he's not a trash talker, but having to go against Green got him talking on Sunday. Everybody in here knows that.

If Sunday is any indication, then Green is on a mission to avenge Golden State's Finals loss a year ago.

In the fourth the Warriors started to find their groove defensively and just a few empty possessions on offense for Portland all-of-a-sudden allowed Golden State to rattle off a double-digit lead that would hold. The Warriors and Trail Blazers series will be a re-run of the Conference Semifinals of the NBA Playoffs 2016, when the Warriors won the series 4-1.

"When you block it at the rim, it's a little different", Green said.

Many people have said that Kevin Durant and Steph Curry can't work together.

"That's the first time I heard of it, from you", he stated. We know this team.

Stotts says, "Hopefully he'll be back at some point in the series". Lillard and company have the second-best record (17-6) in the league since March 1, and only got tougher with midseason acquisition Jusuf Nurkic. "Why not go in and shock the world?" said Lillard after his team secured a first-round match-up against Golden State. "It's nothing disrespectful, I'm not talking about nobody's mamas or anything like that".

The Trail Blazers fill the final playoff spot in the West and will look to cause an upset in the First Round.

Gobert sprained his left knee on the game's first play when he banged knees with Clippers forward Luc Mbah a Moute, leaving the Jazz without their 7-foot-1 center who averaged 14.0 points and 12.8 rebounds during the regular season.