The Trail Blazers announced Friday afternoon that Nurkić's availability for Game One of Portland's first round playoff series versus the Golden State Warriors, set to tip off Sunday afternoon at 12:30 pm at Oracle Arena, is still to be determined.
Nurkic's arrival in Portland wasn't just good for the Blazers, it was good for the big man, too. The Blazers have the 6th best three-point percentage in the National Basketball Association at 37.5% and they chucked the 10th most threes in the league during the regular season at about 28 per game.
Leading the way for Portland was McCollum and Lillard, as the two scored 41 and 34 points respectively. He finished with 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting and a pair of turnovers.
The 2017 NBA Playoffs have officially begun for the defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors, and though it was close at various points for the Warriors during Sunday's 121-109 win over the Portland Trailblazers, they proved they are still the team to beat in the West. Klay Thompson struggled early on and could never find a consistent rhythm, he finished with 15 points.
The 67-win Warriors dispatched the Trail Blazers four straight times during the regular season, winning twice by 23 or more points and once at Portland without Stephen Curry.
But Green tipped in a Curry miss and Durant followed with three consecutive hoops, opening Golden State's biggest lead of the game, 113-99, with 3:36 to go.
Draymond Green had 19 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, five blocked shots and three steals to help last season's second-place team take the first step in what it is counting on to be a championship run.
Korea 'all options are on the table'
In a dinner speech Pence said his father, a Korean War veteran, was one of the USA soldiers stationed here some 60 years ago. The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly on the results of the policy review and requested anonymity.
There was a little trash-talking, a flurry of incredible offensive performances, a game-sealing run and a whole lot of Draymond Green.
Game 2 is Wednesday night at Oracle Arena at 10:30 p.m. ET.
The Warriors were quick to dismiss prognostications that they would easily coast past Portland, with forward Kevin Durant in particular making clear that the Warriors would not be taking anyone lightly. "I make great progress the last couple of days but I'm not there yet so we still waiting on that right now, undecided". That is hard to believe, as Steve Kerr makes the necessary adjustments and throughout Kerr's tenure, it is rare for the Warriors to lose multiple games in a row.
Draymond was incredible. He played a game that I'm not sure anybody else in the league is capable of, honestly. "Our players were fired up, and Draymond made a couple of just huge plays there". He had 27 of the points in the first half. Keep in mind, the Warriors were undefeated against the Trail Blazers in their four regular season match-ups, beating them by an average of nearly 20 points each time. In road games, the Blazers put up 106 while allowing 110.
Stotts says, "Hopefully he'll be back at some point in the series".
The 2017 NBA Playoffs kicked off this weekend, and the Portland Trail Blazers have a seat at the table. Don't believe us? Take it from Lillard, who told USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick, "It's about playing right at the right time, playing well at the right time, and we believe that we can beat anybody".
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