Warriors center Kevon Looney reaches for the ball over Blazers guard Damian Lillard.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The final shot of the night wasn’t really even one.

A last-second shot has hope in it.

It ties your stomach in a knot.

It has life — and this one did not.

The official box score called Damian Lillard’s final act on Thursday night a “29-foot shot” that was blocked by Andre Iguodala. But let’s be real, it was more of a strip by Iguodala, followed by a scramble for the loose ball, followed by the buzzer, falling confetti, and eventually, a gloating Kevin Durant in the tunnel.

Golden State beat Portland 114-111 in Game 2 at Oracle Arena.

“We stole that game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

No coach, your team won it. It made the plays, take the win. Even as Portland blew a 15-point halftime lead, and an eight-point fourth quarter lead, and missed a pile of shots, more than anything Golden State seized that victory.

That’s what world champions do.

After the game the injured Durant greeted teammate Draymond Green outside the home locker room, where he jeered, “Finals? … they don’t want to go there.”

Was Durant talking about the Blazers? If so, it’s a lie. Portland really does want to go there. Badly. It wants to beat the Warriors in this series, get to the NBA Finals and break a 40-plus year title drought.

It just doesn’t have the map. Also, it happens to be playing a team that is loaded and has won three championships in four seasons.

That’s why I hope the Blazers took notes, and will watch film, and lose sleep. Also, it’s why I hope they heard what Durant said after it was over. Because what Portland really got on Thursday was a lesson about how to close out a playoff game put on by the greatest team on the planet at doing so.

I picked Portland to upset the Warriors in six games. I look dumb after two games. I made that pick because I believed the Blazers would split the first two games in Oakland, then defend home court. But after letting Game 2 slip away, Portland has no traction in this series.

Lillard also looks exhausted, doesn’t he?

He’s like a guy on the mound who has thrown 400 innings and is being asked to get a couple of more outs. He’s done so much for this team. On the defensive end, he’s chasing a line of All-Star guards through a never-ending line of screens. On offense he’s fighting through traps, passing, dribbling, scoring, and trying to win the game.

Portland had a bad third quarter. It missed too many shots in the fourth.

CJ McCollum said, “It’s just a make-or-miss league.”

Where were the makes then? Because in the fourth quarter for McCollum it was: miss, miss, miss, miss, miss and miss.

Six consecutive McCollum shots missed the mark in the final quarter. If any one of them goes in, it’s a different scenario at the end for Lillard. If two go in, maybe it’s a win. But that was McCollum’s night and the Blazers will have to live with it.

At multiple points of Game 2, Portland looked like a team suffering from a lack of experience on the Western Conference finals stage. It played much better than it did in Game 1, but not good enough to win. Steph Curry outranks Lillard in conference finals games played, 26-2. Also, he’s playing alongside with the core of a team that has been there with him.

“There isn’t anything they haven’t seen,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said.

Portland trails 2-0 in the best-of-seven conference finals series. The Blazers now live with the fact that they must go home and win Game 3 and/or Game 4 to extend the season.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country is smelling a sweep.

Lillard grew up within a walk of Oracle Arena. He was asked after the loss whether he’d thought about Thursday night possibly being the last time he might play a basketball game there.

You could hear the kid from Oakland begin to answer as he absorbed the thought.

Last game in this building?

His last shot here?

Blocked?

“Yeah, this is the last season they’re going to play in this building,” he said. “I knew that coming in, this was going to be the last — I mean, this time, I doubt this will be the last time. You know, we planning on being back here, so that’s it.”

I’ve never stood beneath one of those ancient castle walls while a team of royal archers shoots thousands of arrows high in the air down below at me. But I imagine that’s what it feels like to be on defense when Curry, Green and Klay Thompson raise up and let loose toward the arena ceiling.

In the last four seasons, the Warriors have trailed by 15-plus points at halftime on 53 occasions. Golden State has won 21 of those games. That includes Thursday night against the Blazers, who were feeling good about themselves after a couple of solid quarters, then not so good.

Green said, “We know we can erase eight points in a minute.”

This series isn’t over. Not just yet. Portland plays its best basketball with a chip on the shoulder. Also, it demonstrated in the loss that it could play close with the Warriors in the playoffs on their home court.

Maybe there was something learned.

There were encouraging developments, too, including an improved defensive game plan and the performance of Seth Curry, who looked like the best player on the court for a spell. But letting playoff wins slip through your fingers against Golden State is no way to live.

A line of NBA franchises sitting home, watching, already know that.

Two more losses. That’s all that’s left in Portland’s postseason. That’s the sobering truth. And Durant’s taunts hit hard, even if they’re difficult to take from a guy who won’t make the trip to Portland. Still, I hope the Trail Blazers heard what Durant said after Game 2.

If not, I hope they at least remember what he told McCollum last summer.

Durant said the Blazers “aren’t going to win a championship.” He told McCollum, who said he was frustrated with the way the Warriors were built, not to “worry about what goes on at the top of things.”

Those six missed shots by McCollum were huge, weren’t they?

After the game, Durant and Green celebrated outside the locker room like a couple of school-yard bullies. It’s not that Portland doesn’t want to play for a title, fellas. It’s that the Blazers first need to get one win in this series.

Just one win before anyone of us can imagine them getting a second.