Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless, left, and Al-Farouq Aminu sit on the bench during the second half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2017.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson vs. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum: Lillard and McCollum outscored the Curry-Thompson duo in Game 1 by a wide margin - 75-44 - but it wasn't enough for a Portland triumph.
Kerr didn't hear about the injury until after the 121-109 win.
"We're never going to make excuses, but this is hard", Horford said.
If the Blazers are going to beat anyone, especially Golden State, they have to get way more production from other players.
Portland center Jusuf Nurkic won't play in Game 2 of the Trail Blazers' first-round series against the Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant was masterful once again with 32 points and 10 rebounds in his first playoff game with the Dubs.
ESPN's Marc Stein reported Wednesday, citing sources, that Durant missed the team shootaround due to a strained calf that he suffered during the Warriors' Game 1 victory.
Kerr said Durant is "bummed out" by the setback - coming just 10 days after his return from a right knee injury - but wants to do "the smart thing long-term".
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Nurkic missed the final seven games of the regular season with a nondisplaced fracture in his right leg.
People can call Green a system player and say that he only thrives with the Warriors because of the players surrounding him, but every team needs a do-it-all player like Draymond. Clark has killed the Blazers all season - now 23-of-30 shooting overall in five games - so instead of going with the defensive-minded Patrick McCaw, Kerr dialed up Clark and he delivered. "And although they made a run at the end to close (tied at 88-88 at end of the 3rd quarter) our energy transferred over".
It's the ideal opportunity for Curry to remind the National Basketball Association that the Warriors are not only his team, but that the Dubs are the team to beat.
"It started with the energy of JaVale there in that third quarter", Green said after the game. "So we went to it earlier in the year when KD was still healthy and it started working for us". "But the problem was they had 88 points".
Curry reached his hand in the air to further ignite the sellout crowd, thrilled to be inside raucous Oracle Arena on a rainy day that postponed the Astros-Athletics game next-door.
Lillard and McCollum combined to go 28 for 54, the rest of the team just 12 of 39 - Maurice Harkless 5 for 13 and Allen Crabbe 1 of 5. There was a little of everything: physical play, trash talk, deep 3-pointers, monster blocked shots and dazzling dunks.
"He told me I need to do more calf raises", Green quipped. It was good back and forth, it makes the game a lot more fun, that's for sure.
The Warriors locked this game up, just like Vegas, you, me, the guy at Oracle, and Chancelor Bennett thought.
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