CLEVELAND, Ohio – The glory days are over. No more NBA final meetings between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. All that remains: the banners high above the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and a few familiar faces from every side.
But those old rivals who meet in Cleveland are still generating noticeable excitement – even on the second night of a duel, towards the end of the regular season and mid-April.
The Cavs were no match for the rising Warriors and lost 119-101.
Thursday was the biggest and liveliest audience of the season. A sell-off of 4,148 during a pandemic. Most had home-team roots, as indicated by a mockery of “Draymond Green Sucks” by a Cleveland fanatic in Section 103 or the early game incidents against Stephen Curry. But there was also a healthy amount of Golden State gear honking and roaring on vintage curry buckets and green dimes.
Behind the finally healthy starting grid, the Cavs got off to a strong start. They won the first quarter, 31-28, and bottled curry. But the Warriors took their first lead of the game with a Kevon Looney Dunk at the 10:40 mark in the second quarter and never gave up. The Cavs offensive stagnated for long stretches and there were a few too many mistakes on either end.
Cleveland got closer late in the third round, reduced the lead to four and brought the crowd back. But Curry silenced the Clevelanders and set fire to Dub Nation, which strolled into enemy territory, made an 8-2 punch, and pushed the Warriors forward by 10 to get into fourth. Fittingly, Curry closed the show.
“I thought we did some really good things to take the lead off and be in the game, but I thought we had some costly sales,” said Cavs manager JB Bickerstaff. “We would end possession, we would have thrown the ball away and they would have found a 3. With these two guys they have so much experience they are just too deadly. And then the other guys gave them a lot of credit, they played their part to a T. They had Draymond and Steph orchestrate the game and then they know where to be in their seats and they made recordings so you pay too. ”
After Curry had only scored six points in a cool first quarter, the league’s second-best goalscorer finished the game with 33 to 12 of 25 points, including 4 of 13 points from the 3-point range. It is the ninth game in a row that Curry has scored 30 or more points. The warriors have won four times in a row.
“It’s amazing how he can play. He literally has everything from half place to baseline that he can achieve, ”said Jarrett Allen after the defeat. “Of course he’s an amazing 3 point shooter and our plans are to try to take his 3s away, but at the same time he can do amazingly around the rim, he can just as well take down the defense and finish on the edge. So it’s really difficult to play all five levels of the defensive scheme. “
Collin Sexton, who missed two games in a row with a groin injury, made up for the lost time. Sexton looked healthy and fresh, hitting a team high of 30 points. Darius Garland added 20 points and seven assists. Allen double-doubled, scored 17 points and got 14 rebounds. Kevin Love, playing back to back in game two, looked sluggish and out of rhythm. In the 2-of-10 shooting, he only got five points.
“It’s difficult for him because the game is getting rough,” said Bickerstaff about love. “You’re trying to figure out how to do about 24 minutes. The game is difficult for him because the longer he lies on the floor, the more things happen for him, the easier it is for him to catch a rhythm. I have to figure out how to make it easier for him. “
The lonely visit from Golden State on Thursday evening caused a lot of excitement. There were some flashback moments. Matthew Dellavedova picks up curry and molests the star of warriors. Curry slid down the floor after one of his four groups of three. An emphatic green dunk met a mixture of cheers and ridicule.
Unlike the four-year course that started in 2015, there is no summer rematch.
Strength in numbers
Cleveland’s Bank only had six bases in the first half. While Taurean Prince and Larry Nance Jr. rebounded in the second half, the Warriors’ reserves ended the game 45-23 ahead. Juan Toscano-Anderson led the Golden State and scored the top 20 points of his career in 8-of-9 shooting. Prince finished the game with 12 points and his seventh game in a row reached double digits.
Next
The Cavs will go on a two-game road trip that begins Saturday night in Chicago. The tipoff against the cops is set for 8 p.m.
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New Cavs Face Masks For Sale: Here, you can purchase Cleveland Cavaliers-themed face covers for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($ 14.99) and a pack of 3 ($ 24.99). All NBA proceeds are donated to charity.
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