ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Cleveland Cavaliers (19-7) were in Oakland on Christmas to face the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors were without Harrison Barnes (sprained left ankle) and Kevon Looney (hip surgery rehab) again. The Cavs’ Mo Williams was questionable with a thumb injury.
1st Quarter – Draymond Beastin’
Both teams got off to a slugfest-ish start. LeBron James stripped the ball from Brandon Rush, James missed inside with Andrew Bogut helping, Draymond Green traveling on an attempt to sneak by Kevin Love on the right baseline, then Green lasering a bouncer backdoor for Stephen Curry that went too far out of bounds.
But Green managed to loft an alley-oop over Timofey Mozgov, slammed home by Bogut, then Draymond hit a three from the top after Curry drove in and got stuck at under the hoop, with Kevin Love not closing out on Green fast enough:
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But the Cavs answered with J.R. Smith hitting a triple on a catch-and-shoot via Kyrie Irving, then Green went down the lane, absorbed contact from Mozgov, got his own rebound, flipped the ball back out to Klay Thompson, who did the same down the lane, absorbing Mozgov, but getting the banker to drop.
That made it 12-11, Cavs, with 6:15 to go in the first quarter.
The Cavs continued to try and run their offense through James in the post, but the Warriors’ help defense was on point, with Bogut supplying the second line of defensive disruption even after James used his power to get by the likes of Andre Iguodala.
Golden State started scoring by multiples of three, with Curry back-flipping a pass to Green beyond the arc, a cut to the hole by Curry delivered by Bogut for an “and-one”…
Andrew Bogut finds Steph Curry with a gift-wrapped DIME on ABC! #NBARapidReplay #NBAXmas https://t.co/3cRWIrtnLd
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2015
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…and a Draymond-to-Steph catch-and-shoot enabled by Curry’s gorgeous fake cut:
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That triple made it 24-15, Warriors, before James came back quickly with a drive down the left lane, finished by a right-handed scoop.
The Warriors would have added more, but Curry blew a layup on a precision touchdown pass from Green:
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Green added another three points with a “bully” post, and-one, against Smith, and Shaun Livingston added two jumpers, answered by an in-transition dunk by Tristan Thompson where Festus Ezeli mistakenly decided to guard against the perimeter shot.
James made a banker at the buzzer, but it was a tad after the horn, and Golden State took a 28-19 lead after one frame as Green led all scorers with 10 pionts plus 6 rebounds ,3 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Curry had 9 points, while James had just 4 points.
2nd Quarter – Curry Calf Troubles, Slugfest
The bench unit went into a drought after Ezeli blocked an Iman Shumpert baseline drive…
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…and Iguodala popped an open triple on the next sequence.
The Cavs went on a 9-0 run to erase the first-quarter deficit, as Curry had to head to the locker room to tend to a banged calf that he had originally sustained two nights ago in the victory against the Utah Jazz.
Meanwhile on the floor, Ezeli, Marreese Speights, and Klay committed turnovers before a long jump hook by Ezeli put the Warriors back up, 33-31.
James came back with an iso drive past Ezeli, going right-to-left, to tie the game at 33-33 with 7:04 remaining.
Klay posted up Irving, got this “and-one” scoop…
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…but Tristan came back with a dunk on a lob behind the Warriors’ defense by Irving, and Golden State counter-punched with another Livingston jumper as Klay drew two defenders up top, dumped the ball off to Bogut, who found Green in the left corner, who found Livingston on the left wing.
Irving had this nice drive by Iguodala, though:
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With 5:28 to go in the half, the Warriors held a slim 37-35 lead as a timeout for TV was taken. Curry returned to the game after getting his calf massaged and heat applied:
Christmas is saved pic.twitter.com/ThUxlQdcSY
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) December 25, 2015
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The Warriors played tough defense against the power moves of James, with Green disrupting a dunk, and Iguodala closing out on a long two that LeBron missed, but Golden State was caught in a slow-down slugfest.
Klay got switched onto James, but got called for this questionable foul on what seemed at first a strip:
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Curry got trampled over by Shumpert on a screen attempt and Steph canned two free throws as the Cavs were in the penalty, Matthew Dellavedova got a layup out of a timeout, Klay got a lefty putback tip of a Draymond jumper that went short, and Curry missed a three-quarter-court heave at the buzzer.
Golden State held a 45-42 lead over Cleveland at the half, the Warriors’ tying their lowest first-half output of the season.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @adam_tatalovich)
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