ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — In a game featuring a “slugfest” pace and an 89-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-8), the Golden State Warriors (28-1) showed that they are now the measuring stick for the NBA.
The Cavaliers, who give up an average of just 94.9 points per game, did what they do best: slow the game down and keep the margin close enough for LeBron James to take over late. They held the Warriors, who average 114.6 points per game, to their lowest offensive output since an 89-84 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers way back on February 9th. Prior to that was, ironically, the 2014 Christmas game at the Los Angeles Clippers, which the Clippers won, 100-86.
After two straight dunks that pulled the Cavaliers to 81-75 with under three minutes to go, James got fouled by Shaun Livingston on another drive to the basket, but missed both free throws.
From that point on, the Warriors stopped James on three of four occasions.
The one they didn’t stop? Draymond Green was there to snuff out the layup, but Scott Foster, who was on the baseline and shielded from the play, whistled a foul and sent James to the line, where he missed one of another two trips to the charity stripe.
Green wasn’t necessarily dismayed by the call, which he told reporters after the game he didn’t think was a foul.
“We still found a way to win,” Green said, jokingly. “I’m kind of mad at Scott for calling that foul because I would’ve been on the highlights with that if he didn’t call it.”
“Myself, I wasn’t very good offensively,” said James. “That just trickled down to everybody else and we missed out on a great opportunity.”
“Whether it’s our style or not,” said Stephen Curry, who finished with just 19 points, 12 below his season average, “we got stops. We can do a little bit better of a job rebounding as a team, but we found a way to get a win.”
“If we have to grind it out, we will. If the shot isn’t falling, we can always control how we play on the defensive end,” said Klay Thompson. “It was an ugly game, but we made the right adjustments and we came out with a win.”
Green, who tallied 22 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists, said he was excited.
“28-and-1 and you’re not near playing well, that’s exciting because we know how to get to that point and we know we’ll reach that point and when we do, I think that’s trouble,” said Green. “We measure ourselves off of us, we don’t really measure ourselves on how we stack up against anyone else, because we know if we’re playing our type of game and we’re doing the things we want to do we feel like we stack up against anybody.”
Gone are the days when the Warriors faced an Eastern foe for one of only two matchups in a season and it was used as a barometer. Now, the tables have been turned.
“It was a marquee matchup,” said Cavs power forward Kevin Love, who finished with a modest 10 points, but still grabbed 18 rebounds. “You always want to see where you stack up against the best and they’ve probably played the best ball of any team.”
Gone are the days when the Warriors faced a superstar opponent on national TV and felt they had something to prove.
“I think we’re beyond that point,” said Green.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6OBarytiVc&w=560&h=315](Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @basketball_baloncesto via NBAE/Getty)
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