When they’re firing on all cylinders, the Golden State Warriors rarely get challenged.
Especially when their 2-time MVP starts cooking.
Steph Curry scored 33 points, including an NBA Finals record 9 3-pointers, as the Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-103 in Game 2 Sunday (Monday, Manila time).
The Warriors now hold a 2-0 lead in the series.
Three days after needing to weather LeBron James’ brilliant display on offense and relying on some “luck” to win Game 1, the Warriors were more in control on both ends of the floor in Game 2.
Kevin Durant finished with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting to make up for an inefficient Game 1.
After struggling with his shot in the opener, Durant was in rhythm throughout. He wasn’t just putting up points, he was also setting up other Warriors for good looks at the basket.
Same went for Curry, who found open teammates besides drilling his signature shot — really deep 3s — on a several occasions, 9 to be exact, breaking the record previously owned by Ray Allen since 2010.
Coupled with a more aggressive approach on the boards and getting help from their role players, the Warriors took the Cavaliers’ best punch then knocked them out with not one, not two, not three, but 5 back-breaking 3-pointers by Curry in the fourth quarter.
The series moves to Cleveland in Game 3 on Thursday, Manila time. Tip-off is at 9 a.m.
Golden State was ahead 90-80 at the start of the fourth but, as they have proven this series, the Cavaliers weren’t going down without a fight.
James buried a 3-pointer to make it a 7-point game, but then Curry simply went off.
He drilled a step-back triple then followed it up with another to extend the Warriors’ lead to 96-83.
Then he swooshed a 28-footer fading away as the shot clock expired and a deep one from the corner plus a bonus free throw off a Kevin Love foul to tie the record Allen set in Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals between Allen’s Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Curry reset the mark when he splashed his ninth 3-pointer of the game with the outcome settled.
Curry also had 8 assists and 7 rebounds, while Durant contributed 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
After scoring 51 points in Game 1, James settled for 29 to go with 13 assists and 9 rebounds on a Cleveland struggled from the field and Golden State feasted.
The Warriors shot 57% from the field (47 of 82) and 41% from behind the arc (15 of 36), compared the Cavaliers' 41.6% from the floor and just 33.3% from downtown.
Love added 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
After being minus-15 in the rebounding battle in Game 1, the Warriors finished with just as many as the Cavaliers in Game 2 with 41.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
