OAKLAND -- Rookie forward Troy Murphy wasn't around for the second half of the Warriors' 96-86 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night at the Arena.

Still, he was as responsible as anyone for the victory, and, in fact, more so than most.

Murphy's thunderous dunk and subsequent ejection late in the second quarter put the necessary spark into a Warriors team that had been just kind of rolling along up to that point. The play, which started a 10-2 run, single-handedly changed the game from slow dance to tango in a split second and helped push the Warriors into a 53-40 lead.