OAKLAND, Calif. _ Steph Curry was at it again, basking in yet another series-opening win at home on the Warriors' projected path to their fifth straight NBA Finals.
Game 2 will be tougher, right? The Portland Trail Blazers will adjust after their 22-point defeat? The Warriors won't be strutting into a trap game, will they?
"We understand what the drill is," Curry responded after the 116-94 win that opened the Western Conference finals.
The Warriors are 14-4 in Game 2s since 2015. All but one have been at home, and that outlier was a 2018 conference finals loss at Houston (127-105).
The other losses: 2015 second round to the Memphis Grizzlies (97-90), 2015 NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers (95-93, OT), and this year's first round to the Los Angeles Clippers (135-131).
"We've been in this situation plenty of times, and more so than not, have handled our business in Game 2," Curry said. "Obviously against the Clippers, we didn't and had to really work."
Since 2015, the Warriors have opened all of their 19 playoff series at home except for that 2018 Western finals in Houston. Their only series-opening defeat came in the 2016 Western finals, to the Oklahoma Thunder (108-102).
Outlasting the Trail Blazers didn't come as a surprise, nor did Curry's game-high, 36-point outburst, his biggest since putting up 38 in the playoff opener against the Clippers.
"It's just a game at a time, man," Curry said. "Having been through so many of these series, we understand what the drill is and they are going to make adjustments and probably play really aggressive and assertive in the first half.
"Game 2, we have to be ready for that punch and keep playing hard."
