The Warriors rained down three-pointers in the first half and played such a synchronized offense to engineer a 126-91 beatdown of the Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena in San Francisco on Monday night (Tuesday morning).
Kevin Durant finished with 21 points and Stephen Curry contributed 20 points and 11 assists for the Warriors.
Golden State's gumption has been scrutinized and subjected to ridicule and countless memes since it blew a 3-1 lead to Cleveland in last year's finals.
The Warriors (35-6) weren't going to let LeBron James and the Cavaliers (29-11) rub in the defeat in the two teams' first game at the Warriors' home floor since their ignominious Game 7 loss.
With Durant and Curry on fire early on, Golden State wasn't about to be denied in the two teams' second and last meeting in the regular season before, as many believe, they face again in this year's finals.
The game's highlight belonged to Curry, who has been maligned for his subpar play against the Cavaliers.
As time wound down in the first half, the Warriors scrambled to set up a final shot off transition. Durant took a pass from Curry but he was sealed off along the baseline. So Durant rifled the ball back to Curry, who splashed the good 30-foot three-pointer at the buzzer. Golden State led at the half, 78-49.
Klay Thompson led Golden State with 26 points, while Draymond Green finished with a triple double (11 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists). The Warriors had an eye-popping 37-8 advantage in assists, and were 15 of 33 from three-point territory compared with the Cavaliers's eight of 31 clip.
The Cavaliers were handicapped about five minutes into the game when Kyrie Irving was called for his second personal foul.
But the Warriors didn't start breaking away until late in the second quarter when their outside shots started to fall in and their defense held the Cavaliers to just one field goal in a 22-7 run in the last five minutes of the first half.
LeBron James scored 20 points to lead Cleveland. Kevin Love was limited to three points on one of six shooting from the field, while Irving finished with 15 points.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
