NBA-Lillard fires Trail Blazers to win over Warriors

May 7 (Sports Xchange) - Damian Lillard scored a career playoff-high 40 points and dished out 10 assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers past the Golden State Warriors 120-108 on Saturday night at the Moda Center. Al-Farouq Aminu collected 23 points and 10 rebounds and C.J. McCollum added 22 points for the Trail Blazers, who narrowed Golden State's lead in the Western Conference semifinals to 2-1. Game 4 takes place Monday night in Portland. Lillard was 14 for 27 from the field, including 8 for 13 from 3-point range. Aminu was 8-for-9 from the field, making four of his five 3-point attempts. Draymond Green contributed a career playoff-high 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and Klay Thompson added 35 points for the Warriors, who were without injured star Stephen Curry. Green finished with 13-for-23 shooting, going 8-for-12 from beyond the arc. Lillard scored 25 points and Aminu contributed 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the second quarter as Portland carried a 58-46 lead into halftime. Thompson had 24 in the half for the Warriors, who were outscored 36-18 in the second period. Portland increased its lead to 63-50, but Green buried back-to-back 3's to whittle the margin to 63-56. The Blazers regained control with a 12-4 run that upped the advantage to 76-60. With Aminu leading the way, the Blazers took a 93-80 edge into the fourth quarter. The Blazers increased the difference to 105-85, but Golden State used a 9-0 run to close within 105-94 with 5:25 remaining. Portland scored the next five points, and the Warriors never came closer than 12 the rest of the way. Golden State jumped to a 16-9 lead as the Blazers started 4-for-16 from the field. Thompson scored 18 points as the Warriors carried a 28-22 advantage after the first quarter. Lillard had 11 for Portland. The Blazers scored the first seven points of the second period to go in front 29-28. A Lillard 3-pointer pushed them ahead 42-36, and they extended the margin to 12 points at the break.