ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Golden State Warriors.
3RD QUARTER: Black Falcon Puts A Spark In Slug-Fest
The third quarter started out a slug-fest. Kevin Love didn’t notice the shotclock expiring as he posted up on Draymond Green.
On the Warriors’ end, Andrew Bogut, who checked in for Marreese Speights at the eight-minute mark after Cavs head coach David Blatt inserted seven-foot Timofey Mozgov, seemed a step slow in his gradual recovery from the knee injury.
As Stephen Curry dribbled hard left-handed into Kyrie Irving, Curry left a beautiful left-handed behind-the-back swing pass to Bogut, but the Warriors seven-footer got snuffed by Cleveland’s. Bogut then committed a foul on the other end, helping out as Love got a switch and was defended by Klay Thompson down in the post.
Then on an Irving jumper as Mozgov checked Harrison Barnes to free Kyrie, Barnes was called for pushing Mozgov into Irving, but Mozgov missed the and-one free throw.
The defensive battle then culminated with Bogut getting revenge on Mozgov:
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The Warriors created separation again as Curry hit a three from the left elbow, Green stole a pass and delivered the finish to a cutting Barnes at the other end. Blatt called timeout with the Cavs down, 71-66, and 5:31 left to play in the quarter.
Golden State pulled ahead by as much as 9 points, 75-66 with 4:33 left, as Irving missed a jumper and Green boxed out Love on one of many clashes down low. Taking the ball upcourt, Green found Barnes open for an alley-oop. Green celebrated by pretending he was an airplane flying:
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But covering an attacking JR Smith, Thompson would catch and elbow and head to the locker room with a considerable amount of blood on his nose. He would receive seven stitches for a laceration on his forehead, but returned later.
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The Warriors did a good job of answering the Cavs’ buckets. A Mozgov alley-oop from Irving was met with a Green putback of a Curry missed attack of the rim that was fed by a nice bounce pass from Bogut. Smith’s right-handed driving layup on the left side was met with a Barnes corner three assisted by Green, but Irving got a confident crossover baseline step-back to fall over Justin Holiday, who had subbed in for Thompson.
Holiday would avenge Irving’s jumper by hitting his own to close out the quarter, Curry’s fifth assist, with 2.2 seconds left. The Warriors took an 84-76 margin into the final frame.
Smith was up to 23 points, leading all scorers. Thompson had 22 and Curry added 19. Love had 14 points, 11 rebounds, but Green collected 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocked shots. Barnes added 11 for the Warriors and Irving 18 for the Cavs.
4TH QUARTER:
The Warriors pushed the lead up to as many as 11 points, getting an and-one inside by Holiday on Smith after a nice interior pass by Andre Iguodala, then a Marreese Speights slam dunk after Iguodala pushed the ball up on a miss by Matthew Dellavedova, and an inside reverse bucket by David Lee, prompting Blatt to call timeout with 8:04 remaining and the Cavs down, 91-80.
But Irving and Love combined for two three-pointers and starting center Tristan Thompson added a putback slam of an Irving miss, trimming the lead to just five, 83-78.
Later, Kerr called timeout after Green missed a three and Speights got the rebound, up by just six at 95-89. Oracle rose to its feet as Tupac‘s “California Love” blared in the arena. Green then got a bunny floater on a pass by Curry on the ATO (“after timeout” play), which started an avalanche of buckets for the Warriors to close out the game.
After Thompson drew free throws on a rebound of his own missed three which had Bogut setting the pick, Curry drew two more by attacking Love on a switch.
Tristan Thompson fouled out on a James Jones missed three from the corner, leaving Bogut on the hardwood, and Iguodala drilled a three on an overhead laser pass by Curry to make it an insurmountable 108-94 lead for the Warriors, Curry’s tenth assist.
Curry added a hanging bankshot, accompanied by a celebration flexing his biceps, giving the Dubs a 16-point lead that resulted in a 112-94 late snuff-out of the Cavs.
Klay led the Warriors with 24 points, Curry added 23 points, 10 assists, and Green had 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Holiday had 14 off the bench.
The Cavs were led by Smith’s 27 points and Irving’s 23 points, 5 assists. Love had 17 points, 14 rebounds in defeat.
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