It was no contest as the Golden State Warriors once again demonstrated that they could bring home a playoff victory without Kevin Durant in the lineup. And so now they will try to go up 2-0 in the NBA Western Conference finals as they play host to the Portland Trail Blazers in a game that begins at 9:05 PM ET at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.

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A load of things went right for the Warriors in the opener, and especially late. They scored 39 points in the fourth quarter to pull away with a 116-94 win. On the evening, Golden State was 17 of 33 from beyond the three-point arc, and Steph Curry hit an amazing nine triples. Curry had been having a rather slow time of it against Houston in the previous series, then exploded for 33 second-half points in the clincher. He came up with just what head coach Steve Kerr needed after Kevin Durant had been declared out with his calf injury.

And they will need some of this kind of thing again as Durant sits out Game 2 as well.

Portland just could not find the range. They were only 25% from the arc, and they got disappointing results from CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard, who combined to hit just eleven of 31 field goal attempts. And when you commit 21 turnovers, as they did, you are opening things up for a team that can get out on the break, like the Warriors.

Looking at the posted odds for this game, the Warriors are, of course, once again the favorites on their home floor:

Golden State Warriors -7 (-103)
Portland Trail Blazers +7 (-107)

Over 219.5 points (-107)
Under 219.5 points (-103)

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The Warriors are formidable even without Durant. With the likes of Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson on the floor, without KD, they have scored 122 points per 100 possessions. And this is the most active team on offense, with more passes than any other team that has participated in the playoffs. And when Durant isn't in there, the ball doesn't stop as much.

Yet, there are a few encouraging things we can say about Portland's chances in this game. Coming into the series, they were eleventh among playoff teams in terms of "Pace," and that figure was favorable for them in the first game, as it was 95.2. And while the Warriors are generally not a real good defensive rebounding team, the Blazers have the potential to exploit that, as the starting lineup has an offensive rebounding percentage of 34%. Enes Kanter certainly wasn't slowed in Game 1, as he had 16 rebounds, five of which were on the offensive end.

Coming into these conference finals, only 19% of Golden State's shots came from its bench, but that figure jumped to 26.2% in Game 1. Six reserves logged at least ten minutes of playing time, and they had a 33-17 edge in scoring. That would be unusual for this team, and if Portland got better in that regard, it would close that gap. Rodney Hood played through pain to tally 17 points on Tuesday, and that was a good sign.

The remaining piece of the puzzle that could add up to the cover involves the production of Lillard and McCollum. How much can they improve on eleven field goals? And can Lillard avoid turning the ball over seven times again?

We're going to count on a Portland bounceback here, at least enough to come within the designated impost.

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