No Stephen Curry, no ... wait. There was a problem for the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night.
Without Curry — who's nursing an MCL sprain — the Warriors lost their second postseason game this season, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers 120-108 in Game 3 of the second-round Western Conference series. Portland capitalized on a sluggish Warriors defense, which allowed the Blazers to shoot 56.7 percent from behind the arc.
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Damian Lillard led all players with 40 points, including eight 3-pointers. Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in handsomely with 23 points and was nearly perfect from the field, going 8 of 9 from the floor (including 4 of 5 from 3-point land).
Draymond Green flirted with a triple-double, scoring 37 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing eight assists in 41 minutes. Klay Thompson added 35 points.
"Understanding the situation my team was in, if you go down 3-0, not a lot of teams come back from that, especially against a team like them," Lillard told ABC after the game. "I wanted to come out and be aggressive, and just leave it all out here."
Tweet of the night:
Damian Lillard took Stephen's Curry's title as the king of the 3-pointers on Saturday night.
BANG!!! #NBARapidReplay #WARRIORSvBLAZERS https://t.co/ZHc3Ghq7UQ
— NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2016
Stud of the night:
Kyle Lowry, Raptors — Lowry stepped up for Toronto and propelled his team to a 95-91 victory over the Miami Heat. The guard sank a crucial 3-pointer to give Toronto an 89-86 lead with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation. Lowry finished with 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 5 of 8 from behind the 3-point line.
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Dud of the night:
Hassan Whiteside, Heat — Once again, Whiteside's finicky right knee gave him trouble. The center tweaked the knee early in the second quarter against the Raptors. He went back to the locker room, where X-Rays were negative, but didn't return to the game. The Heat clearly missed his presence down low (the 7-footer averaged 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game during the regular season).
Looking ahead:
Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks (CLE 3-0), 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC: This is the last chance for the Hawks to get it together. Twice they have come back to lead in games this series, and twice they have surrendered those leads. Cleveland has been thrivin late in games this series, especially in the fourth quarter when the Hawks seem to be gassed. If the Hawks want to avoid a 12th straight postseason loss to Cleveland, they have to pace themselves.
San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder, (SAS 2-1), 8:00 p.m. ET, TNT: The Thunder took a close loss at home in Game 3 and will need to improve defensively to even the series before heading back to San Antonio. Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard has been unstoppable, so the Thunder will need to figure out a way to shut him down in Game 4. LaMarcus Aldridge will also need to be watched closely, as the big man posted 24 points on Friday.