Two nights after defeating the Washington Wizards, the Golden State Warriors headed up north to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in an epic showdown between two of the NBA’s biggest stars: Stephen Curry and LeBron James.
1ST QUARTER: Steph’s Finesse vs LeBron’s Power
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
The pace of the game started ultra-slow as James posted up Harrison Barnes, getting two free throws out of it, then Draymond Green, getting a baby hook to drop.
Another early turnover by Klay Thompson led to a Kyrie Irving run-out dunk, but Curry answered with a three-pointer 9 seconds later, cutting the Cavs’ lead to 8-7 in the early going, with 9:54 to play.
Andrew Bogut made his presence known early as well, poking the ball away from Timofey Mozgov under the rim, then running the high screen with Harrison Barnes with the ball up top then getting a lefty banker to go on the roll from Barnes.
After getting his own miss on a later sequence, Bogut also fed Curry for a trey from the right corner by slinging the ball with his left hand. That gave the Warriors a 16-15 lead with 5:39 left in the first frame.
Curry added three more after rebounding a Kevin Love missed turnaround, dribbling up court, and pulling up from 26 feet in front of the retreating Mozgov for another long-range splash.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Shortly thereafter, Curry got three from the charity stripe as he pulled up from beyond the arc with Marreese Speights setting the high pick to free him loose, but JR Smith challenged the shot, forcing a miss, but Smith’s momentum caused a bump into Steph, earning Curry the three free trips to the charity stripe.
David Lee was once again effective off the bench, scoring 7 straight Warriors points that might have been 9, but his tip-in went awry at the buzzer of Curry’s fadeaway miss with the quarter clock waning.
But during Lee’s run, James converted two free throws after a Speights blocking foul while trying to draw a charge, got a layup via high pick-and-roll with Mozgov, then powered an attack over Andre Iguodala.
The Warriors held a slim 33-32 lead after the first quarter buzzer. Curry had 12 points on 3-for-6 field, 3-for-5 downtown, while James led all scorers with 13 points.
2ND QUARTER: Can’t Cut Into The Lead
The bench unit did well again, but a Leandro Barbosa run-out layup after a bad pass by LeBron was answered with a three by James, while a magnificent crossover by Iguodala that led to a Lee layup got equalized by a Mozgov jumper.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
James added a three-pointer, but Iguodala stopped the mini-run with a tough fade-away swish, to make it 43-39, Cavs, with 7:40 to go in the half.
Klay then got a rebound of a missed triple by Iman Shumpert, then took the ball the length of the court, pausing at the three-point line, then attacking Irving for a runner that rattled in. After a Mozgov miss, Shaun Livingston delivered a touchdown lob pass to a streaking Green to tie the game at 43-apiece.
But Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout after Livingston missed a jumper short in traffic with no white-shirted Warriors under the hoop, and Irving stepped back for a three-pointer to give the Cavs a 49-43 lead with 5:17 to go in the half.
Out of the timeout, Klay found Bogut for a short baby hook, one of many plays that started to involve the big man. However, Bogut had trouble finding the bottom of the net, save for a soft-touch banker from the right side assisted by Klay that eventually cut the Cavs’ lead to 51-47. Bogut also missed twice in one sequence and was short on a dribble fly-by by Curry after high screen action up top.
Klay also had a brilliant defensive swat of Irving, with the ball bouncing off Irving as he faded away and had the shot tapped back into his body by the lunging Thompson.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
A Curry left-handed layup brought the Warriors to within 51-49 with 2:12 remaining, but after Thompson missed a layup and a resulting tip-in attempt, Kerr exploded at the referee, drawing a technical with 1:35 to go in the half and Irving converting the free throw to take a 54-49 lead.
After Love drilled a three-pointer on an extra ball swing by Smith and Green lunging, Lee got another layup thanks to a feed by Klay, which was made possible by Barnes corralling Green’s missed three that was intended first as answer to Love’s trey.
The Warriors had the ball for the last possession and, after a timeout by Kerr, Curry lasered a pass to a cutting Green from the right corner, who fed a cutting Klay for the two-handed slam before the break.
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsv
The Cavs took a 61-56 into halftime with LeBron leading all scorers with 24 points on 7-for-9 field, Curry with 14, and Lee with 15 on 6-for-7 shooting off the bench.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
