NBA Playoffs 2019: Portland Trail Blazers vs Golden State Warriors - Game 2 MVP
In a game where Portland Trail Blazers meant serious business, Stephen Curry and co. managed to steal a 114-111 victory down the stretch. The Blazers led 65-50 at the halftime break and were hell-bent on returning home with a tied series, but the Golden State Warriors had other plans.
The hosts shot a magnificent 46% from the three-point line and managed to eat into Portland's lead throughout the second half. With the scoreboard reading 114-111 in favour of the Warriors and 12 seconds left on the game clock, Andre Iguodala came up with a huge (but questionable) steal on Damian Lillard to hand Portland a heartbreaking loss on the road.
Game 2 MVP: Stephen Curry
Stat line: 37 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists on 11-of-22 (50%) shooting from the field
With the current Warriors (No Boogie, No KD) resembling their title-winning 2015 squad, Curry has recaptured his role as the team's leader. Now that the ball is back in Steph's hands for the majority of the game, he is turning out to be the force the Dub Nation were used to seeing before Kevin Durant arrived.
In Game 2, the 2-time MVP racked up a game-high total of 37 points in 39 minutes. Green's layup off a Curry dish with less than a minute remaining was one of the tipping points in the ball game.
"For my parents, I know we've talked about it the whole series, these last two games it's probably nerve-wracking as heck for them. It worked out perfectly tonight. He (Seth) played well but we won," said Steph when asked about his match-up with brother Seth.
To put his greatness into perspective, ever since the Blazers flew into the Bay Area, Steph has scored 73 points on 62.5% (10-of-16) 2-point shooting and almost 45% from beyond the arc. He is a perfect 14-14 on free-throws as well, 11 of which came in Game 2 alone.