QUICKEN LOANS ARENA, CLEVELAND, OH — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
The Cavs held a 55-50 lead over the Warriors heading into halftime.
3rd Quarter –
Kyrie Irving started the third quarter with a jumper, but Stephen Curry answered back with a three from the left arc.
After a couple of empty possessions, LeBron James hit a triple pull-up over Harrison Barnes as Curry got in the way trying to stop a pick-and-roll with J.R. Smith.
But Klay Thompson drove and got Richard Jefferson to commit his third personal, then later Steph hit a three from the right wing, Andrew Bogut blocked an inside move by Tristan Thompson, and Klay hit another three-ball from the right arc.
Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue called timeout as the Warriors cut their deficit to 63-61 with 8:11 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Jefferson scored, Klay hit another three, James answered with a jumper, and after a Curry missed three, Irving crossed over and faded over Steph for a jumper.
Things appeared to go downhill for the Warriors as Draymond Green wasn’t aware of the shotclock winding down and passed the ball to Barnes at the buzzer, and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr yelled something at Green, and Draymond gave him a stare down.
But James missed a three, then Klay made an upfake and canned a jumper.
Jefferson then lost the ball against Green and Andre Iguodala ended the sequence after Jefferson got his fourth personal by fouling Curry on the floor, with a three on a catch from the left arc, with contact although there again was no whistle.
That tied the game, 69-69, with 4:37 remaining.
Irving missed a jumper over Steph, and on the transition, Klay found Iguodala who found Curry open on the left side for an open three that swished through.
Lue called a timeout as the Warriors took a 72-69 lead with 4:07 to play.
Anderson Varejao checked into the game, with Kerr rolling the dice with James McAdoo in the first half, and got fouled on a Green drive past James as LeBron bit and jumped on a ball fake.
Draymond scored the layup, but the refs reviewed the play and ruled the foul on Varejao occurred before the bucket, sending Varejao to the line, but he missed both.
James then got an offensive rebound, swung his elbow with Shaun Livingston nearby with no call, banking home the bucket, and on the other end, Iguodala got blocked by LeBron, but the refs gave the ball to the Warriors, an apparent make-up non-call.
Kerr took a timeout and Curry eventually made a cut and got the layup delivered by Iguodala.
Livingston played excellent retreating defense on James as he tried to attack with his body, then banked it too hard, and Green went coast-to-coast, drawing Smith’s fourth foul.
Iguodala got a dunk fed by Green after Varejao got an offensive tap of a miss, but Irving answered with a jumper over Varejao with 39.2 seconds to play
Varejao missed a wide-open jumper after Curry got doubled despite dribbling past a trap in the deep left wing, Kevin Love got fouled, hit both free throws, and Steph missed a three at the buzzer, back-rimming.
The Warriors took a 79-77 lead into the final frame.
4th Quarter –
Klay opened up the quarter by dribbling off his leg for a turnover. Not a good start.
Love tied it up with a turn around on the block, keeping the Cavaliers’ momentum.
LBJ followed after a poor pass by Andre going straight to the rack on McAdoo to put the Cavs ahead 81-79, the 17th lead change of the game.
S-Dot answered with his patented turnaround to tie it back up 81-81 with 10:38 to play, but LBJ answered with an authoritative slam putback to make it 83-81 Cavs.
Barnes continued his strong play with a knockdown 3 to give the Warriors the lead and Andre added a step-back two and Tyronn Lue called time with the Warriors up 86-83 with 9:03 to play.
LeBron drove after the TO and dumped to Tristan Thompson, who was fouled hard. He missed both free throws and SDot made another turnaround to put the Warriors up 88-83.
Lebron tried to force the issue next trip but turned the ball over amidst Draymond and Iguodala, but Shaun missed a tightly defended jumper.
Kyrie took the ball to the hoop for FTs and split, with Tristan getting another offensive rebound but Kyrie forced an iso 3 over Steph.
Dray got an offensive rebound off a missed Klay jumper and Curry found the loose tip for a wide open layup to make it 90-84 Warriors.
A few missed back and forth eventually led to a missed Steph layup that Andre fought to get back. He found Harrison for the open 3 who cashed in and the Cavs took another timeout with the Warriors up 93-84 with 5:56 to play.
Out of the timeout, the Warriors continued their dominant D with a block of LeBron James by Draymond Green.
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Steph tried to send a lazy behind the back pass to Klay but Kyrie chased it down first. Play recovered though with a huge chase down block and Curry got the rebound and saved to Klay who established position back on the court just in time.
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Warriors took a timeout up 93-84 with 4:15 to play.
Iguodala missed the ensuing possession and Kyrie drew a foul on Steph, the 3rd team foul.
Irving came back immediately and scored driving to the basket to make it 93-86. It was the Cavs first FG in 6+ minutes.
Steph answered with a late shot clock 3, pumping Frye off his feet to the Warriors up 10 for the first time all game.
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Kyrie tried to answer back but his tough jumper was way off.
What followed was a rough sequence where Dray was either pulled down or fell, with LeBron stepping directly over him to remain in the play. Both were called for double fouls as Draymond tapped out a rebound and then had words afterward.
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LBJ won the ensuring jump ball but another scramble off a loose ball and missed Kyrie layup led to another jump ball between Klay and Jefferson.
Draymond played solid D on LeBron driving to the hoop but Steph overhelped and got beat by Kyrie back door, leading to a Warriors timeout with 1:49 remaining up 96-88.
Klay out of the timeout rushed a late shock clock corner 3 off the inbounds and missed but Kyrie forced his dribble into traffic and turned it back to the Warriors.
Dray missed open 3 and Lebron pushed end to end to draw foul a foul on Draymond. He split FTs and the Warriors post players boxed out to allow Curry to hustle in from the 3PT line to corral the rebound.
Curry passed out of the double team and Andre hit him with the give and go pass for a tough running layup to the rim.
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Lebron quickly answered with a driving score to cut the lead back to 98-91 and the Warriors called time to advance the ball.
Steph and Klay put on a perfect FT shooting performance beyond that point, hitting 10 of 10 to close the game out, with Kyrie or LeBron taking mostly undefended layups and dunks, doing little to cut into the lead.
There was another tense moment as the teams went back to timeout, LeBron challenging Curry as he spoke to the refs about James grabbing him during an inbounds. Steph shrugged LeBron off, with a smirk on his face.
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Steph punctuated the win with an interception of LeBron at mid-court, adding two more FTs to up his scoring total to 38 points.
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Surprisingly the Warriors ended up out-rebounding the Cavs 43-40, thanks to 12 from Draymond and 8 from Harrison. Harrison also put up 14 points on 11 shots while Klay added 25 to give the Splash Brothers a series-high 63.
With the win, the Warriors take a 3-1 series lead back home to Oakland for a potential home closeout Monday night at Oracle Arena.
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