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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Golden State Warriors entered Saturday night's Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series with the Portland Trail Blazers without head coach Steve Kerr. And star forward Kevin Durant. And key reserves Shaun Livingston and Matt Barnes. But the Warriors still had Stephen Curry and a group of players who got things together defensively in the nick of time in a 119-113 victory over the Blazers.
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Curry scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter -- including the Warriors' final nine points of the game -- as they rallied from a 16-point, third-quarter deficit to seize a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
After missing nine of his 14 field-goal attempts in the first half, Curry heated up after intermission.
"I just stayed aggressive, stayed confident," he said. "You always take shots you think you can make in the flow of the game and live with the results, and you can't get discouraged if you miss. My teammates have a lot of confidence in me to make plays. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, there were a lot of voices in my ears, telling me to keep shooting.
"You can't get too low, can't get too high. That's my philosophy."
Durant, Livingston and Barnes sat out the game with injuries. Kerr, affected by an undisclosed illness, stayed in his hotel room, replaced by lead assistant Mike Brown.
The Warriors made do with what they had, with Curry and Klay Thompson -- who scored 14 of his 24 points in the third quarter -- leading the way.
CJ McCollum scored 32 points and Damian Lillard added 31 for the Blazers, who play host to the Warriors in Game 4 Monday night.
Portland shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first half -- 8 for 13 from 3-point range -- in racing to a 67-54 lead at intermission. The Blazers shot only 33.3 percent and scored 46 points in the second half.
"In the first half, we let (the Blazers) get too comfortable, especially from behind the arc," Brown said. "In the second half, our defense picked up. Our guys were tremendous. They got aggressive defensively, and it showed in the points (the Blazers) scored and their field-goal percentage in the second half."
Portland sank its first five shots from the field en route to an 11-3 lead. With Lillard scoring 15 points, Portland carried a 37-30 lead into the second quarter. The Blazers' advantage climbed to 65-48 late in the second quarter. Curry and Thompson were a combined 8 of 25 from the field at the break.
The Blazers were in front 75-59 early in the third quarter when the game took a decided turn. The Warriors went on a 26-8 roll to seize an 85-83 lead. Portland led 88-87 heading into the final period.
Leading 100-98, the Warriors scored eight of the game's next 10 points, four on a pair of Andre Iguodala dunks in transition, to go ahead 108-100. The Blazers were unable to get closer than four points the rest of the way.
Curry's rainbow 3-pointer pushed Golden State's advantage to 113-106 with 52 seconds remaining.
Lillard sank three free throws to trim the difference to 113-108 with 41.0 seconds to play.
Curry hit a short jumper for a 115-109 lead with 25.7 ticks left. He wrapped it up with four straight free throws in the final 12.8 seconds.
The Warriors outscored the Blazers 33-21 in the third quarter.
"They took it up another level," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "They defended very well, created turnovers. Our offense stagnated. They pushed it out in transition as well as they have so far in the series. It's what they do -- put a run on you -- and we didn't respond well enough."
The Warriors did it under the direction of Brown, formerly the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.
"It's weird when you don't have your head coach," Curry said. "There's no sugar-coating that. But we have to do what we need to do in his absence.
"Coach Brown did a great job. He's used to being at the front of the bench and drawing up plays and communicating the message during timeouts. It was different, but we adjusted and made the most of the night."
NOTES: Portland C Jusuf Nurkic, who had missed nine straight games with a displaced fracture of his right leg, made his first appearance of the series. Nurkic started, contributing two points, 11 rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes. ... Portland G Damian Lillard scored 31 points, reaching the 30-point mark for the ninth time in his postseason career. ...Golden State's seven turnovers tied a franchise playoff low. ... Golden State C JaVale McGee, who scored 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting, is 16 for 19 from the field in the series. ... The Warriors have won 16 of 18 regular-season and postseason meetings between the teams dating to 2014. ... Seventy years ago Saturday, the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Chicago Stags 83-80 to capture the NBA's inaugural champion with a 4-1 series win.
