NBA PLAYOFFS, WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS, GAME 4
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors
Location: Moda Center, Portland, Ore.
Time: Monday, 6 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN
Radio: Rip City Radio 620 AM
Odds: Warriors favored by 3.5, over/under set at 220
By the numbers
Hammer time: It's time to give Leonard his due. Head coach Terry Stotts called on the oft-criticized Blazers center to start Game 3, and Leonard responded with a playoff career-high 16 points. He also had four assists and three rebounds. In limited minutes, Leonard has been a valuable contributor in these playoffs. He's played in 10 of the Blazers' 15 playoff games, and is averaging 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists and shooting 44.9% from the field and 36.0% from the 3-point line. Extrapolate those stats over 36 minutes and you get 15.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists. It was Leonard's shooting, passing and screen-setting that prompted Stotts to give him a chance as the starter. Credit to Leonard for staying ready and taking advantage of the chance when it came.
Harkless bounces back: Maurice Harkless has put up good stats in the Western Conference finals. The Blazers' starting small forward is Portland's third-leading scorer in the series, averaging 11.7 points on 54.2% shooting from the field and 42.9% from the 3-point line. He's also filling up the stat sheet with 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals. He's rebounded nicely after finishing the Denver series in a slump, when he averaged just 4.3 points on 38.9% shooting in the final four games of that series.
Diminishing returns: We now know that Damian Lillard is playing through separated ribs. He confirmed the news Sunday, and said it's not affecting his game. We're going to go ahead and call your bluff on this one, Dame. Separated ribs sound painful enough on their own. Lillard even said it hurts to breathe. And you imagine that those ribs are taking a consistent beating throughout the game. If it's affecting your game, Dame, there's nothing wrong with that. That said, the inefficiency of Lillard and CJ McCollum has hurt the Blazers in this series. Here's a look at their cumulative performance, series by series, through these playoffs.
- First round: 57.4 points per game, 45.8% FG, 46.7% 3P, 82.1% FT, 9.8 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 6.8 turnovers
- Second round: 51.5 points per game, 43.1% FG, 32.5% 3P, 79.2% FT, 11.0 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 4.2 turnovers
- Conference finals: 41.0 points per game, 35.3% FG, 33.1% 3P, 77.4% FT, 8.0 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 7.4 turnovers
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Injury report
Warriors: QUESTIONABLE: Andre Iguodala (left calf tightness). OUT: Kevin Durant (right calf strain), DeMarcus Cousins (left quadriceps tear).
Blazers: OUT: Jusuf Nurkic (left leg)
Live updates
Series at a glance
(1) Golden State Warriors vs. (3) Portland Trail Blazers
Warriors lead best-of-7 series, 1-0; all times PDT, x-if necessary
Game 1 (at GS): Warriors 116, Trail Blazers 94 (box score)
Game 2 (at GS): Warriors 114, Trail Blazers 111 (box score)
Game 3 (at POR): Warriors 110, Trail Blazers 99 (box score)
Game 4 (at POR): Monday, May 20, 6 p.m., ESPN
x-Game 5 (at GS): Wednesday, 6 p.m., ESPN
x-Game 6 (at POR): Friday, 6 p.m., ESPN
x-Game 7 (at GS): Sunday, 6 p.m., ESPN
Live stream options
Stream on WatchESPN (requires subscription to TV provider); NBA playoff games can be streamed live with a subscription to the following services: Hulu + Live TV (does not include NBA TV), Playstation Vue (not all plans include NBA TV), DirecTV Now (not all plans include NBA TV), Sling TV (NBA TV is available as an add-on), fuboTV (does not include ESPN), and YouTube TV. The NBA won't be airing any playoff games live on NBA League Pass because all the games will air on national television, but subscribers will have access to the games in the NBA League Pass archive three hours after the games end (subscription required; local games and nationally televised games are blacked out).
Jared Cowley writes about the Trail Blazers and other topics for KGW.com. He's also the co-host of the 3-on-3 Blazers podcast (listen here). You can reach him on Twitter @jaredcowley.
