Nurkic arrived at Oracle Arena on Sunday and made his way directly to the Blazers' locker room.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts said Green's "strength" is his help defense.
"Well, when you get that block at the apex of the rim, of the player's elevation and he's right at the rim, you get a block like that, it energized everybody", Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. He played a game that I'm not sure anyone else in the league is capable (of), honestly. McGee and Clark provided sparks off the bench. With Curry and Durant on the bench, Draymond Green and his crew entered, and Green began waving the kind of defensive spell rarely seen on a basketball court, rudely informing Portland there would be no upset on Easter Sunday in Oakland.
After the first quarter of play, the Warriors held a 4 point lead; 41-37.
Draymond finished the game with 19 points on just ten shots.
The Blazers-without center Jusuf Nurkic and heavily mismatched at times-hung in for the first three quarters of this game, giving fans hope they can at least make this series somewhat competitive.
The Warriors went from allowing 47.6 percent from the field in the first half to 39.2 in the second, including 29.2 in the decisive fourth, plus the six turnovers. But in the end, we'll arrive at a simple truth: no one could single-handedly stop an opponent like Green. After letting the top-heavy Blazers hang around for three quarters, the Warriors blitzed them in the final quarter, using a total team effort to stymie the Blazers, turning a close game into a double-digit victory.
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Initial reports , according to a White House foreign policy adviser, indicate it could have been a medium-range missile. The 38th parallel was the border between North and South Korea before the Korean War in the 1950s.
The Warriors needed every bit of energy and excitement Green could conjure to fend off Portland, which played the Warriors tough until a 15-2 fourth-quarter run put the game away.
As Lillard said in his post-game comments, the team that initiates physicality not only gets the benefit of the whistles, but is also more easily able to establish and maintain momentum.
As previously mentioned, it was the Blazers' two stars in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum who truly did the heavy lifting, though. Then, as the ball traveled toward the hoop, Green retreated in time to block Noah Vonleh at the rim. Once McCollum got rolling, he started hitting harder and harder shots.
Draymond Green contributed 19 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and five blocked shots to help last season's second-place team take the first step in what it is counting on to be a championship run.
McCollum admitted to the verbal calf jab, and made it clear that he's not going to shy away from mixing it up with Green word-for-word.
Although the final margin shows a comfortable Warriors win, this game was neck-and-neck for all but the final 12 minutes.
"He's quick reacting and the thing with him is that if you beat somebody off the dribble, he's going to be there", Stotts said. "I definitely felt good out there". Perhaps, for all of Lillard's confidence and for all of his and McCollum's brilliance, this speaks to the gap between the teams as nothing else does. His ability to convert on those looks was a huge issue for Portland's defense; those are the types of shots that they should be willing to live with, but they may change their tune on that if Durant continues to make nearly all of them.
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