With the series tied at 2-2, both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers looked to put a stranglehold on the series. The Cavs looked fatigued throughout all of Game 4 and took a beating because of it. The Warriors thoroughly controlled the game and never let the Cavs truly get going. The Warriors come home riding high as they finally put together a finals performance featuring their style of play. Will two days of rest give the Cavs the rest they need to come back and take control of the series or will the Warriors continue their fast paced play and get one step closer t becoming the champions?
1st Quarter
The game started off as a sloppy defensive struggle with both teams struggling to find any flow on the offensive end. The first basket of the game didn’t come until the 9:16 mark of the quarter when Klay Thompson made a layup at the basket. The pace of the game quickly picked up as the Warriors scored three fast break baskets in succession and forced the Cavs to burn a timeout early in the game. J.R. Smith was inserted into the game after the timeout and he made an immediate impact by hitting two straight three point baskets. But quickly after, Smith pulls a Smith and commits an unnecessary flagrant foul on Draymond Green giving the Warriors two free throws and possession. The Cavs seem more energized though as they respond and go on a small run to take their first lead of the game. Shots that were not hiting in Game 4 for the Cavs are going down now with players like Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert getting involved offensively. Cavs coach David Blatt answered Golden States’ smaller lineup by going small himself and that made the Cavs able to defend better and slow the pace down. With the slowed pace the Cavs are able to keep the scoring low and the quarter ends in a tie 22-22.
1st Quarter Stat Leaders
GSW – Draymond Green – 10 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast
Cle – LeBron James – 8 pts, 4 rebs, 4 ast
2nd Quarter
Smith picked up where he left off to start the second quarter, hitting two quick three point shots, the Warriors couldn’t find an answer defensively. On offense, the Warriors were not able to find a way to push the pace as well as they did in Game 4 during the early phases of the game. Mid-way through the quarter, James and Curry took over, as the superstars traded shot for shot in five successive possessions. The pace picked up again as the teams continued to trade shots and the excitement in the arena built after each attempt. Cavs’ bench players James Jones and Mike Miller still saw extended minutes in the quarter as Cleveland continued to go small for to contend with Golden States’ small linup. Both Timofey Mozgov (Cle) and Andrew Bogut (GSW) were no where to be found in the quarter, with Mozgov only playing five minutes all half. This is after Mozgov had his best game as a pro in Game 4. The game is very chippy all the way to the end of the half with the Warriors taking a lead into the locker room 51-50.
Halftime Stat Leaders
GSW – Stephen Curry – 15 pts, 3 rebs, 1 ast
Cle – LeBron James – 20 pts, 8 rebs, 8 ast
3rd Quarter
The quarter starts off at the pace that the half ended at and the teams trade baskets right away. The sloppy start to the game was a thing of the distant past as the efficiency level of both teams on offense were better. The physical play continued with both teams fighting hard on every defensive possession to try and stall the other team’s momentum. Smith continued to have a nice game, showing more patience this quarter and not just shooting a three point shot every time that he gets the ball. He was looking to swing the ball more and find open players, particularly Tristan Thompson who was battling tough on the boards along with making an impact scoring. The Cavs did a good job this quarter of taking advantage of Shaun Livingston when he was in the game and putting bigger players on him on offense so they can get easy points in the paint. With James on the bench, Curry and the Warriors used a 13-4 scoring run to take the biggest lead of the game into the final quarter 73-67.
3rd Quarter Stat Leaders
GSW – Stephen Curry – 20 pts, 4 rebs, 4 ast
Cle – LeBron James – 26 pts, 12 rebs, 9 ast
4th Quarter
The Warriors started the final quarter with Curry on the bench but were still able to protect their lead with the clever play of Shaun Livingston on offense. The Cavs tied the game with a three point shot by Shumpert off an assist by James that gave him his second triple-double of the series. But the “Splash Brothers” answered as Curry and Thompson make two three pointers in a row to get the lead up to five and grab the momentum. The Cavs battle back to get the score within one point but Andre Iguodala went on a scoring run of his own by making a three point shot and a potential and-one layup, and even with a missed free throw the lead goes up to seven points. Curry continued the run after a James free throw, making a step back three point shot to grow the lead again, this time to 10 points. The Cavs go to the Hack-a-Shaq technique as they start to foul Iguodala, who has struggled from the foul line all series long. But it was not effective as Curry was tremendous down the line as he made play after play to pull the Warriors ahead, hitting a dagger three point shot with a minute left in the game. The Warriors went on to win the game and take a 3-2 series lead by the score of 104-91.
Wrap-Up
This game was what the NBA Finals are all about. The play was fast, phyiscal, furious and both teams looked hungry to get the win. The first half was an even affair with both team’s making shots and looking crisp. Both James and Curry were in full blown superstar mode doing everything for their team to walk away with the victory. It was in the second half that Curry and the Warriors slowely started to take over and build a lead that the Cavs could not come back from. Smith started off strong for the Cavs, but faded in the second half and Mozgov came off a career game to score no point this game. In the end it was the play of Curry and the Golden State Warriors taking the win despite another James triple-double and go up 3-2 in the series. They look to wrap up the series in Game 6 in Cleveland on Tuesday June 16th at 9 PM ET.
Final Key Contributor Stats
GSW
Stephen Curry – 37 pts, 7 rebs, 4 ast
Draymond Green – 16 pts, 9 rebs, 6 ast
Andre Iguodala – 14 pts, 8 rebs, 7 ast
Cle
LeBron James – 40 pts, 14 rebs, 11 ast
Tristan Thompson – 19 pts, 10 rebs
J.R. Smith – 14 pts, 7 rebs, 2 ast
