QUICKEN LOANS ARENA, CLEVELAND, OH — The Golden State Warriors (37-4) were at “The Q” to face the Cleveland Cavaliers (28-10).
1st Quarter – Warriors Humming, Steph In Chef Mode
The Warriors hit their first five shots, starting with this first play of the game alley-oop from a sweeping Stephen Curry to Andrew Bogut:
Good start on @nbaontnt! Stephen Curry #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/mEwdwnS3uT
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 19, 2016
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Curry followed that with a three, Klay Thompson hit a catch-and-shoot jumper, then a catch-and-shoot triple…
Way, @realchriswebber. Klay Thompson #SPLASH on @nbaontnt. #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/bWhBAEStj7
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 19, 2016
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…and Steph capped the early run with a steal of Kevin Love’s up-pass from the left block against Harrison Barnes, as Draymond Green came over to aggressively double.
Cavs head coach David Blatt called timeout and the Warriors had a quick 10-2 lead.
But Timofey Mozgov made his presence known in the paint, scoring six of the Cavaliers’ next nine points. Meanwhile, Bogut missed two free throws, a floater, and Thompson, Curry, and Green all missed three-point attempts.
After J.R. Smith aggressively and confidently went to the hole with a floater, Cleveland had cut the lead to 15-11 and, with 5:58 remaining, Golden State interim head coach Luke Walton called timeout to stem the Cavs’ tide.
After the timeout, the Warriors got back into a groove. Curry started to heat up, beginning with a right-wing catch-and-shoot over Matthew Dellavedova and a converging Mozgov.
Then Green knocked the ball out of Mozgov’s paws on a drive attempt and Klay ran pick-and-roll with Draymond, Green rolled to the paint, got the ball from Thompson and delivered a strike to the wide open Andre Iguodala, who had subbed in for Barnes, for an easy triple from the right corner.
Steph then ran another pick-and-roll with Draymond and Green found Festus Ezeli this time with a two-handed dunk:
Draymond Green dishing on @nbaontnt! #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/HChT9J6tMa
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 19, 2016
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After Smith answered with a step-back over Leandro Barbosa from the right baseline, Curry ran the exact same play and this time, Green gave a behind-the-back pass in the lane to Ezeli. Festus wanted the foul as well, as he rattled home the quasi-dunk.
Steph then went backdoor and got a left-side scoop delivered by Iguodala…
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…and, after Smith got a backdoor layup assisted by LeBron James, Steph went with a right-to-left crossover step-back on Dellavedova, and the Warriors had a 31-19 lead with 1:15 to go.
James then made this bad screen on Curry and was called for the offensive foul turnover:
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Steph capitalized with a swish from the right wing from beyond the arc with 59 seconds left, but Curry got doubled and made a bad up-pass to Barnes. James stole it cleanly and went in for the run-out dunk.
Still, the Warriors held a 34-21 lead heading into the second quarter, with Curry leading the way with 16 points on 6-for-7 field, 4-for-5 from downtown. Green had 5 assists. Smith buoyed Cleveland with 9 points and LeBron tallied 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists.
2nd Quarter – Relentless
The bench unit held strong at the start of the second period. Barnes starting this off with a swish on a turnaround from the right baseline against Dellavedova, then Kyrie Irving missed a runner, Barbosa leapt to grab the long rebound, went behind-the-back on the ensuing dribble to avoid a Cavalier to start the break, and got the outlet to Iguodala for a soaring left-side dunk with the right hand on the run-out.
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Green added a triple and, after Shaun Livingston quickly answered a floater by Anderson Varejao, Blatt called another timeout and the Warriors had stretched their lead to 43-27 with 8:53 to go.
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The Cavs finally got a couple buckets in a row from James and Smith, but Klay played great defense on LeBron on the left baseline, Livingston got the rebound, and outlet to Curry who found Iguodala for a touchdown slam, playing “tic-tac-toe” in connecdting the dots.
Green got an “and-one” banker on the right side against backup forward Richard Jefferson, and salt got in their wounds as James lost the ball in the paint, Jefferson couldn’t pick it up in the scrum, and Livingston swiped it, leading to another uncontested slam dunk by Iguodala. That gave the Warriors a 20-point lead and Blatt called a 20-second timeout.
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Curry and the Warriors remained laser focused, however, and Steph duped Irving with a fake up-cut and went backdoor, getting a layup fed by Thompson, with the “and-one” on Mozgov.
Shortly thereafter, Curry missed a left-side layup after bypassing Irving, but Steph snuck from behind on LeBron’s pinch post on Iguodala. Curry finished the run-out layup, giving him 21 points, and the Warriors’ lead ballooned to 57-32.
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Steph soon picked up his third foul, but Golden State’s lead made it insignificant. Even Ian Clark got into the action, drilling a right-corner trey assisted by Iguodala after another James miss. LeBron would end the first half shooting just 5-for-12.
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Kevin Love, largely invisible in the first half, finally stuck a three from the top with 41 seconds to go, but Green answered right back with a catch-and-shoot swish from the deep right wing, giving himself 11 points and Iguodala 4 assists, and the Warriors a humongous 30-point lead, 70-40.
The scoring in the first half ended with Smith’s strong righty layup to give him 14 points, the only Cavs player playing consistently well. Klay also had 11 points and Green entered halftime with those 11 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Golden State tallied 18 assists on 26 made field goals. Meanwhile, the Cavs were just 19-for-41 (46.3%) from the field and had just 9 assists on those 19 buckets.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via NBAE/Getty)
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