James, who also had game highs of 16 rebounds and 7 assists, is trying to bring Cleveland its first sports champion since 1964 and avoid a third loss in a row in his sixth consecutive NBA Finals trip.
Advertisement
“We had a mindset that we wanted to come here and just extend our period and have another opportunity to fight for another day”, James said.
Defensively, the Warriors must find a way to keep James and Kyrie Irving from going off the way they did Monday, with each scoring 41 points.
“The value of both of us as well as the rest of the team and how we’re spacing is very important, and it just took a while to figure that out”.
While absorbing merciless boos from the amped-up Oracle crowd every time he touched the ball, James steamrolled to the basket with no regard for the smaller Warriors.
“We’re going to need another performance like that”, Cleveland’s Richard Jefferson said.
Game six is Thursday in Cleveland with the championship at stake. They will get Green back for Game 6, but it is unclear if Bogut will be there as well.
“Our defense wasn’t almost as good as it’s been”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“We’ve got to be better in Game 6 in terms of the looks that he was getting”, Irving said.
Green watched the game sitting in a suite with general manager Bob Myers while his teammates tried to pick up their exiled comrade.
The All-Star forward was suspended Sunday for his fourth flagrant foul of the postseason. A bank shot and a fadeaway made it 106-96, and a three-pointer gave Cleveland a 109-96 lead with 5:33 to play. The Warriors often failed to get a hand in the face of Cleveland’s shooters. Now, we have a new source of continuing ephemera, from a much more familiar place: ESPN Radio!
It was an overpowering performance reminiscent of the 45 points and 15 rebounds he put up for Miami against Boston in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals in 2012.
Golden State was awaiting final results of an MRI exam on Bogut, the Australian who suffered a left knee injury early in the third quarter Monday, to know his status for the remainder of the series. With second-to-none ball-handling skills and an uncanny ability to knife his way through defenders, Irving does things that even the league’s elite points guards like Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul can’t duplicate. They answered on offense and made all the key stops on defense. “Been doing it all year”, Thompson said. “Our backs are against the wall, we gotta come out swinging”.
Advertisement
Former Orlando Magic star Grant Hill spoke on behalf of the National Basketball Association in offering support, thoughts and prayers to victims in the Orlando mass shooting before a moment of silence. The Cavs lost the first three games in which he appeared, won by 30 in the game he missed with a concussion – sparking questions about whether they were better without Love – and staved off elimination by pulling away from Golden State in the second half of Game 5 on Monday night in a game where Love was a total non-factor offensively. James extended his NBA-record streak to 26 straight playoff series with at least one road win….
