Lowell Cohn: Warriors pulled through when it mattered

OAKLAND - When the Warriors fell behind by 17 points in the second quarter, fell behind to the talent-impoverished Trail Blazers from the Pacific Northwest, you thought the Blazers were establishing a new world order. Call it a new basketball order.

The Warriors had embarrassed the Blazers in Game 1. Portland looked like the Washington Generals led by poor harried Red Klotz against the Harlem Globetrotters - the Warriors playing the role of the Globetrotters. And everyone expected Game 2 to be redundant. The Warriors victimizing the small Blazers guards. The Blazers front court insignificant.

But the Blazers came out firing and the Warriors seemed a step slow, especially on defense. They had no answer for the great Damian Lillard.

“We were getting killed defensively, giving up a lot of easy shots,” Steve Kerr said later. He also said, “You have to cover a lot of floor against Portland.”

He was right. Portland shoots well from long range when it shoots well from long range. But the Blazers inevitably miss long-range shots, especially when it matters, especially at the crisis moment. They scored only 12 points in the fourth quarter. Very bad. They do not have a championship mentality. And believe me they do not have a center. Mason Plumlee may be a nice man, but he can't shoot or defend and that is a problem.

After the Blazers took their big lead, the Warriors restored order by doing what they do. They made a heroic Warriors comeback. You've seen those before. The Warriors took over. Decided it was the right time. No more messing around.

They kept after the Blazers. That is the correct phrase - kept after. This keeping after was not pretty or easy or the standard Warriors keeping after. It was awkward and it was herky-jerky and, sometimes, it was ugly. But it was determined and angry and definitive. These were the Warriors and they kept after it.

They wouldn't quit. They never quit. The defense keyed the comeback, made significant stops. The Warriors depend on defense because they don't have Stephen Curry to make 3-point shots in transition, don't have him to bury an opponent. The defense fueled everything.

The Warriors play with the highest standard in the NBA and they are never out of a game even when they seem out.

They will themselves right back in. They are the Warriors.

And they surely crushed the soul of these scrappy, admirable Blazers who couldn't win a game they could have won. The Warriors stole their soul in the fourth quarter. The Warriors stole the Blazers' soul when they took the lead for good on a Shaun Livingston hook shot with about five minutes left.

The Warriors had kept after it when they had no business keeping after it. And then they ended it.

Now, it's time to be honest, to speak frankly and forthrightly. The Warriors' path in these playoffs has been easy. They haven't exactly been hacking their way through the jungle. More like an easy stroll through a leafy glade with the robins chirping over their heads.

Their first-round opponent, the Rockets, were a .500 team whose two stars were extreme narcissists, at least on the floor, narcissists who disdained doing the dirty work of defense. It was beneath them. The Rockets were lucky to win one game in the series. And they almost lost the game they won. The Warriors series with the Rockets was a cinch.

It's the same with Portland - although it looked rocky for a while in Game 2 until it wasn't rocky anymore. At the start of the season, the Blazers were hardly blazing. You think the Warriors are at a disadvantage without Stephen Curry, well get this.

The Blazers lost four starters before this season - free agency and all that stuff. The big Blazer they lost was LaMarcus Aldridge who took himself to San Antonio. Can't blame him for that.

So, this season's edition of the Blazers was young, was put together in haste, was picked to win 30 games, give or take. This was a team that had won 51 games the previous season - before they lost key players. And now they were starting over. They began this season with eight new players on their roster. Hardly promising. They committed to youth out of necessity, and they committed to their great point guard Lillard by extending his contract and building around him for some time in the vague future. They won 44 games this season - modest by any reckoning.

Experts who graded their offseason gave them mostly D's, although there were some D-pluses. They were an afterthought, a rebuilding team.

They got to second round largely because the Clippers, whom they defeated, fell to pieces, lost their two stars, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to injury. The Clippers would have been harder for the Warriors if they were the Clippers.

Which means the Blazers shouldn't even be in this series. Way out of their depth.

Afterward, their coach Terry Stotts said his team “will learn” from Game 2. A little late for learning at this stage. Maybe they learned they can't beat the Warriors. That's a form of learning.

No knock on the Warriors for having an easy path so far. They can only play the teams the league presents them. They can only beat the teams the league gives them.

In the next round, things will get harder and more interesting. Curry will be back by then. That's what the Warriors have him for.

You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.