The Golden State Warriors continue to roll over opponents while awaiting the return of injured league MVP Stephen Curry. Klay Thompson fired in a playoff career-high 37 points with seven triples, and the defending NBA Champions cruised to a 118-106 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday in the opener of their Western Conference semi-final playoff series.
“He was awesome,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Thompson’s sparkling effort on both ends of the court. Curry sat out his second consecutive playoff game with a right knee sprain, but he cheered on his teammates from the bench. “The guys are doing what they need to do to keep it rolling,” he said. “But I want to be back as soon as possible.”
Curry expects to get the green light from the team’s medical staff to participate in 5-on-5 drills. Despite “feeling pain” in his knee, he is optimistic for a return in Saturday’s game 3, saying, “It’s looking pretty good.”
Draymond Green collected his second playoff career triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the Warriors, who also got 12 points from Curry’s replacement, Shaun Livingston.  “I didn’t go out tonight saying I need to get a triple-double to win,” Green said. “I came out saying I need to do whatever it takes for our team to get a win. Tonight, that was a little bit of everything.  It was important that everybody stepped up with energy. That’s what won us the game.”
Thompson says he doesn’t feel any added pressure to pick up the slack for fellow Splash Brother Curry, who averaged a league-best 30 points per game this season.
“I just want to play as myself and to my strengths,” he said. “We have so many great players, we just have to do it collectively and make up for him.”
The Warriors have come together without Curry. “I think it helped to play most of the Houston series without Steph in terms of preparing for this series,” Kerr said. “We just got into a good groove in games 4 and 5 and it carried over into today. Our guys have an understanding of what we’re trying accomplish and how we have to play without Steph.”
Thompson got off to a sizzling start, outscoring the Trail Blazers 18-17 by himself en route to a 37-17 lead after one quarter.
He had 22 points by halftime, staking the Warriors to a comfortable 65-51 advantage.
“I was in a great zone,” Thompson said. “It was good to get off to a good start. Obviously, you’re not going to shoot like that every game. It’s the playoffs, you have to be aggressive.”
Golden State continued the assault in the third quarter behind Thompson’s 11 points as the lead swelled to 28.
The top seeds carried a 93-73 cushion into the final frame and cruised home in front of the wildly-cheering sold out Oracle Arena crowd.
Green cautioned that the rest of the best-of-seven series is not going to be easy.
“We have to continue to improve,” he said. “They’re going to improve and we have to make adjustments to their adjustments.”
Damian Lillard struggled to score 30 points on 8-of-26 shooting for the fifth-seeded Trail Blazers, who had little time to prepare following Friday’s game 6 close-out over the LA Clippers.   
“It’s one game,” Lillard said. “We have to understand they’re an elite team and they showed that tonight.
“We have to play a full game for 48 minutes. We have to fix things and make sure our season keeps going.” The Warriors host game 2 is today.

Miami Heat 106, Charlotte Hornets 73
Slovenian Goran Dragic scored a playoff career-high 25 points and the Heat crushed the visiting Hornets to win their Eastern Conference first-round series 4-games-to-3.
Third-seeded Miami advanced to a conference semi-final showdown starting today against the Toronto Raptors after the second seeds held off the Indiana Pacers 89-84 in game 7 of their series.
Gerald Green had 16 points, Luol Deng 15 and Dwayne Wade 12 for Miami, which never trailed in the beat-down.
After leading by 12 at halftime, the Heat broke open the game with a 29-11 third quarter blitz, extending the lead to 30 en route to the lopsided victory.
Kemba Walker followed his 37-point game 6 effort with just nine, as sixth-seeded Charlotte shot a frosty 32 per cent from the field.

Toronto Raptors 89, Indiana Pacers 84
DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, including two free throws with 6.5 seconds left, and the Raptors held off a late rush to close out the visiting Pacers in the decisive game 7 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 rebounds and 10 points for Toronto, which won its first playoff series since 2001.
Paul George had 26 points with 12 rebounds for the Pacers, who cut a late 16-point third-quarter deficit to three in the final minute before getting eliminated.

Curry likely to play game 3
Portland: The Golden State Warriors just might see star guard Stephen Curry on the court for Game 3 of the Western Conference semi-final series against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Curry missed Sunday’s series opener due to a sprained MCL in his right knee and coach Steve Kerr said before Sunday’s contest that it is “pretty slim” that Curry would be able to play in today’s Game 2.
But Game 3 isn’t until Saturday in Portland, giving Curry a chance to further his rehab and test the knee in 5-on-5 scrimmages.
“It just depends how his week goes,” Kerr said. “We’ll just monitor him and see how it goes and hopefully get him back at some point. ... It’s nice to have that long break between (games) 2 and 3.”  The Warriors beat the Trail Blazers in Game 1 Sunday.
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Luke Walton says it was a difficult decision to leave the Warriors but feels he is up to the challenge to take over as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
“It was a tough decision, but I didn’t have to sleep on it because I already kind of thought it out,” said Walton, who addressed the media Saturday for the first time since being hired by the Lakers.
“Obviously, I love that the past two years, the players here are incredible, not just talent-wise, but the people they are. I love the coaching staff I work with here.”
NBA coaching sources told ESPN that Walton landed a five-year deal with the Lakers, with four years guaranteed, at an annual salary between $5 million and $6 million, depending on incentives.
Walton was the Warriors’ interim head coach at the start of this season and led the team to a 39-4 record, including an NBA-record 24-0 start, before coach Steve Kerr returned after recovering from back surgery.
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Longtime NBA coach George Karl reflected on his rocky tenure with the Sacramento Kings, including his clashes with star center DeMarcus Cousins and the team’s front office.
The Kings fired Karl on April 14.
“I never felt I got into a good place with Cuz (Cousins),” Karl told the Sacramento Bee in an interview at his home. “Some of that was my stupidity when I said that no player is untradable.
“I still believe that. But I should have been smart enough not to say it, and I in no way, at any time, thought DeMarcus was going to get traded.”
“Eighty percent of the time, I think the Kings did what had to be done,” Karl told the newspaper.
“But I’m old-school enough to think that a coach has to feel powerful, has to feel supported—and I never felt that level of support.”