warriors vs cavaliers preview: the return of jarrett jack
Golden State Warriors (41-24) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (25-40)
Tip-off: Friday, March 14th, 2014 – 7:30 PM PST
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
Spread: Golden State (10-) meaning Warriors are 10-point favorites
TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @goldenstatenz)
Last Game / Streak:
CLE – Won 110-101 vs PHX in Pheonix, Won 1 straight game
GSW – Lost 111-98 vs LAC in Los Angeles, Lost 1 straight game
Last Meeting Between The Teams:
Warriors won 108-104 in Cleveland
Probable Starting Lineups:
Warriors:
PG: Stephen Curry (23.3 PPG, 8.6 APG, 4.4 RPG)
SG: Harrison Barnes ( PPG, APG, RPG)
SF: Andre Iguodala (9.3 PPG, 4.3 APG, 4.7 RPG)
PF: David Lee (18.5 PPG, 2.2 APG, 9.6 RPG)
C: Andrew Bogut (7.9 PPG, 1.6 APG, 10.1 RPG)
Clippers:
PG: Kyrie Irving (21.5 PPG, 6.3 APG, 3.6 RPG)
SG: Jarrett Jack (8.6 PPG, 3.8 APG, 2.6 RPG)
SF: Luol Deng (16.5 PPG, 2.9 APG, 6.0 RPG)
PF: Tristan Thompson (12.1 PPG, 0.9 APG, 9.5 RPG)
C: Spencer Hawes (13.4 PPG, 3.1 APG, 8.6 RPG)
The Warriors and Cavs have a lot to look forward to tonight. First off, it’s Curry’s birthday. Another thing that #DubNation will look forward to is the home-coming of Jack, as he plays his first game in the Bay since the Warriors were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs last May. One thing nobody is looking forward to is, Klay Thompson will not play tonight because he is in the Bahamas attending his grandfather’s funeral.
As for basketball, the Warriors are coming off a tough road loss against the Clippers. As for the Cavs, they are coming in to Oracle after beating the Phoenix Suns by 9 in Phoenix. Barnes will be starting for Klay tonight.
Mary Schmitt-Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“It’s tough,” (Cavs coach Mike) Brown said. “They’re a really good offensive team. Obviously, they’re playing well defensively too. They have a lot of weapons. One thing we have to do is contest all their 3-pointers. We can’t let them take uncontested 3s, whether in the half court or especially in transition.
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“Then they want to get out and run. All their bigs are pretty good runners, so that puts a lot of pressure on you to get back the right way because their bigs can rim run and cause a small to take them.
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
“This one loss isn’t going to stop us from continuing that momentum, that rhythm, and we’ll be looking forward to Friday,” Curry said.
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The Warriors (41-25) will be at home for six of their next seven games. Aside from a trip to Portland on Sunday, their next road game is not until April 1.
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“Now it’s about regrouping and putting together another run,” coach Mark Jackson said.
Brett Huston of STATS:
“We’ve been playing great basketball against some good teams, and we thought we could come in here and play very well and get a win,” said Curry, who was held to 13 points – his sixth straight game under 20. “It didn’t turn out that way, but one loss isn’t going to stop us. We’re going to continue that momentum, that rhythm.”
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Golden State is sixth in the Western Conference with its eyes on catching Portland, and Cleveland (25-40) did a little to help the Warriors step a bit closer to the postseason on Wednesday. The Cavaliers snapped a four-game skid with a 110-101 wire-to-wire victory over ninth-place Phoenix.
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