NBA: Thanks to KD and Steph!

The Cleveland Cavaliers (26-17) show an improvement, but against the Golden State Warriors (36-9) the home arena is no longer able to cope. In the 118:108 victory for the reigning champion, the two MVPs of the Warriors are ultimately too much for LeBron James.

In contrast to the first duel on Christmas Day, this time both teams were able to start with their Starting Point Guards – so both Isaiah Thomas and Stephen Curry started. The Warriors also let the rookie Jordan Bell take off at Center – the fast Bell was supposed to take more defensive care of Cavs-Center Kevin Love.

But this calculation didn’t work out in the first minutes – because Cleveland started hot and that had a lot to do with Love, who contributed to the 18:11 start of the Cavs as a marksman and also as a preparer. The Cavs met eight of their first ten litters and seemed motivated to forget the last partially desolate performances. One time-out later, however, the Dubs had taken an 8-0 run, with Klay Thompson in charge, scoring 13 of his team’s first 23 points. The result was a breathtakingly fast and spectacular game.

With 16 points LeBron James led the Cavs to the 37:35 lead after a quarter, in the second one it grew to 9 points in the meantime, even if Cleveland could never shake off the Dubs. A Steal + Alley op by Dwyane Wade on Jeff Green put the hosts on 64:57 before the break – the highest halftime lead Cleveland has ever had since James’ return to the regular season against Golden State.

However, this did not last long. Curry started with 8 points into the second half and with a little more than 7 minutes on the clock, free throws from Kevin Durant gave the Dubs the lead again. KD and Curry combined put on 24 points in the third quarter and turned the game slowly, while the Cavs seemed to be defensively tired – it was 93:91 for the Dubs in the last round.

And that’s where Cleveland’s misfortune continued, with a meager 2 points in less than six minutes, and a Dubs lineup with Shaun Livingston and David West that didn’t do much for them either. A last uprising of James (32 points, 12/18 FG, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, but also 8 turnovers) failed, Golden State finished 13th. Victory away in a row (!) no longer take and thus consolidated the best record of the league.

Top scorer of the Dubs was Durant with 32 points (9/16 FG), Curry finished the game with 23 and 8 assists. Thompson scored 17 points, Green scratched the triple double with 11 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. For the Cavs, James Thomas (19 points, 8/21 FG), Love (17) and Wade (10) scored double-digit points. The Cavs lost four games in a row, but remain third in the Eastern Conference.

Cavs vs. Warriors: Click here for the BOXSCORE!

Kevin Durant. Apart from the once again frighteningly effective scoring, KD impressed in this match with his good passing (8 assists) and strong defense. Especially in half time two extremely vigilant in the passways (3 steals). Curry and (in the middle two) Green also showed good performances.

Let’s exclude Thomas, because after his comeback he is of course not the old one again – J. R. Smith and Jae Crowder, however, do not have this “excuse”. The two wings should ideally provide 3 and D for the Cavs, but both are in shape for the whole season. Smith tried at least some drives, but lost the ball three times completely unnecessarily. Crowder, on the other hand, seems to have lost his litter almost completely. Cleveland needs a lot more from both of them.

The NBA live at SPOX! All games in the LIVESTREAM calendar!

Probably the biggest question in this matchup is how or whether the cavs will be able to hide Thomas defensively. Coach Lue seems to be looking for the answer to this question. In this game, IT tried their best against Curry when he was on the court with the banker, and Iguodala was also on the court, but the Dubs didn’t take every opportunity to attack Thomas. Curry in particular took it very calmly and mostly played the pass. However, it is safe to assume that this would look quite different in a potential final rematch. In the second half, the Dubs also unpacked the Durant Curry PNR against IT at times – unfair!