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Cavaliers want what Warriors have
“That’s more of a statement”.
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Love posted a double-double with 10 points and 18 rebounds, including 15 on the defensive end, but the balanced scoring was not enough to overcome 22 points from forward Draymond Green, as well as 19 and 18 from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, respectively.
“If he reported to us anything was hurting in the second half he was going to be done for the night”, Walton said.
But come on, this game mattered just a little bit more. “It’s great experience for us”.
The Warriors are on pace to have the winningest record in National Basketball Association history, and Curry is on pace to break his own record from 3-point baskets in a season.
In other Christmas games, Jimmy Butler scored 23 points to power Chicago over Oklahoma City 105-96 and Chris Bosh’s 30 points sparked Miami over New Orleans 94-88 in over-time.
The improved Houston defense held the Spurs to a season low in points to snap their season-best seven-game winning streak. While Cleveland (19-8) had its Big Three of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving playing together – and has now gone 35-5 in the last 40 games all three have played in since James returned from his sabbatical in January – Irving and Iman Shumpert are still working their way back into form after lengthy injury absences. “You got to knock down some shots to beat a team like that, and that says we were here to compete and win”. “We came out defensively and did what we were supposed to do”.
Leandro Barbosa also suffered a left shoulder sprain in the quarter and did not return.
Although Cavaliers small forward LeBron James scored 25 points, pulled down nine rebounds and handed out two assists, he made just 10 of his 26 attempts from the field and four of his nine free throws, including three critical misses in the final 90 seconds.
Over the summer, multiple Cleveland Cavaliers openly talked about the NBA Finals turning out differently had they been healthy.
At Houston, the Rockets improved to 16-15 while the Spurs, with the second-best record in the National Basketball Association, fell to 25-6.
Neither teams were at their best. Ion Clark stripped him cleanly on isolation plays twice, and Iggy blocked his usually unstoppable driving layup twice during the same jump and made it seem like just another play. “It’s a growing process for us. But we’re not going to overreact to anything”. He lost weight last season to help the longevity of his career but we may have seen the last of those consistent, ultra-efficient 30 point, 60%FG games. “We’ve got to build on it and see where we can go”.
Despite the deficit, the Cavaliers battled their way to a 31-31 tie by starting the second quarter on a 12-3 run that was largely done from the free-throw line.
“We showed a lot of resiliency”, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ll win ’em any way we can”. The play was originally called a flagrant foul (which I was ready to scream about) before replay helped the refs reverse the call. “He gets on us, he is our leader, and we miss him”. After point guard Mo Williams converted three attempts to start the quarter and Dellavedova and Love hit back-to-back shots, James finished off a three-point play and Irving sank two attempts from the charity stripe that drew the Cavaliers even with the Warriors.
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At Los Angeles, the Clippers survived their lowest scoring quarter of the season with only nine in the fourth as the Lakers reserves rallied once the Clippers went to their bench. It’s not something the Blazers aren’t used to, but something that’s tough to guard if you continuously get guards on Love or James in switches on the block.