Thompson: Portland proving to be a much tougher test than Houston.

OAKLAND — This won’t be a series where the Warriors get help from their dysfunctional opponent. These aren’t the Houston Rockets they’re facing.

Portland — young, overmatched and counted out — is going to make the Warriors earn this series. Without Stephen Curry to lean on, the Warriors won’t have the luxury of coasting and flipping a switch. The Blazers can make them pay unlike few teams in the league.

At some point, perhaps after coach Steve Kerr bit their heads off in a fourthquarter timeout, the Warriors players recognized the gravity of the situation. They locked in, took control of the game and pulled away down the stretch for a 110-99 win on Tuesday.

The Warriors avoided the home loss that would have changed the tone of these Western Conference semifinals. They dug deep and flexed back against a Portland team that was game for a fight.

And how they finished this game is how they will have to finish this series.

“Game 2s always scare me, especially if you won the first one relatively easy like we did,” Kerr said. “It’s human nature. The other team comes out angry, maybe you let your guard down a little bit even though you’re aware of the circumstances.”

Even though the Warriors are up 2-0, the overriding point was clear: the Blazers are not a team to mess around with. They are dangerous, and now they will have their home crowd behind them. They have nothing to lose as underdogs, and they have a spirit about them the team embraces. And they can light it up. That’s why if Curry can play in Game 3 — he thinks his sprained right MCL should be good to Saturday — Kerr has to play him.

And if he’s not available, the Warriors must approach Game 3 as if they need their best to beat this team. They can’t live behind the arc the way they did in Game 2. They can’t defend they way they did for most of the contest — swiping at drivers, dying on screens and giving up open shots.

Portland has a team full of gunners, and when they are feeling comfortable and confident, they can put up points just like the Warriors. Better than the Warriors if Curry is not playing.

Nobody illustrated that more than Damian Lillard, whose 25 points put a scare in the Warriors.

The Warriors can’t give the Blazers life expecting to just take it back. They have to stomp out hope from the outset. They have to wear them down with execution and the kind of relentless aggression that takes a toll over a series.

“We don’t believe a team can beat us four times if we’re locked in,” Thompson said.

They can’t be as casual as they were for major stretches of Game 3. The Warriors trailed by many as 17. Every time they made a push, windaided by the exceptionally vehement cheers of Oracle Arena, the Blazers had an answer.

The Warriors cut the deficit to 49-46 late in the second quarter, but Portland responded with an 8-0 run.

It was down to three again. It looked as if the Blazers would finally buckle. But Portland answered with a 13-6 spurt, with Lillard coolly dropping in a 3-pointer to give the Blazers a 10-point lead.

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors chipped into Portland’s lead. A Thompson 3-pointer at the 5:33 mark gave the Warriors their first lead of the game.

That was supposed to be it. The Warriors had completely erased the big hole and were finally going to put Portland in their place and cruise to victory.

But in a microcosm for this game, and this series, Lillard answered right back with a drive to set up a Mo Harkless layup. Portland led again.

The Warriors reclaimed the lead on a Shaun Livingston jumper. They never trailed again. Their defense tightened. They started executing, not relying solely on 3s. The shots that weren’t falling were much more in rhythm when they started running the offense.

That’s how this has to be until Curry comes back and when he returns.

Without Curry, the potential for the Warriors to go ice cold increases. And Thompson, the offensive catalyst when Curry is out, couldn’t find his stroke. He was feeling it in Game 1 but had just seven points on 3 of 9 shooting at the half.

And without Curry, the Warriors couldn’t just flip the switch as they normally do. With Portland not at all interested in collapsing, the Warriors couldn’t just wait for the opponent to bail them out they way Houston did.

No, the Warriors had to go and take Game 2 from Portland. And they’re going to have to take this series. Which is good practice because it only gets harder from here.