With the win the Cavaliers, powered by 41 points from both James and guard Kyrie Irving, pulled to within 3-2 in the NBA Finals and sent the best-of-seven championship series back to OH for Game Six on Thursday.
Advertisement
On Monday, he converted 17-of-24 shots, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, and scored 34 points in the final three quarters: 11 in the second, 11 in the third and 12 in the fourth.
James quieted the crowd with a bank shot to make it 104-96.
The game, level at half time, began to unravel for the Warriors in the third quarter, after ‘Strayan centre Andrew Bogut went down with a nasty-looking knee injury.
“I kind of like our position”, Coach Steve Kerr said. He watched the game from a suite at the adjacent Oakland Athletics stadium, where he was close enough to rush over in case of a title celebration, as the Warriors fans broke the silences of timeouts with “free Draymond” chants. We just weren’t communicating defensively.
“To put on the show that he did, to go out and follow the keys, and play winning basketball – we did that tonight”.
So far in this series, Cleveland has needed out-of-this-world shooting performances from James and Irving, and equally unimpressive shooting nights from the Warriors to win games.
“You’ve got a guy like this who is very special, it’s probably one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen live”, Cavs star LeBron James said. In doing so, they became the first teammates ever to go for more than 40 in the same NBA Finals game. He was coming off a Game 5 where he had 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists but turned the ball over seven times. “I know myself and (LeBron) and our teammates are willing”.
James nearly single-handedly made it happen by dominating Game 5 in too many ways to capture in a sentence, let alone a paragraph. Irving took over in the second half, scoring 23 points while putting on a shot-making exhibition. After having 23 turnovers in the first four games, James had only two in this victory.
“They had two great games, two breakout games”, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said.
The 3s were still there in Game 5 – the Warriors made 14 of 42 from long range.
The Finals Dish from Cleveland’s 112-97 win over Golden State on Monday night. He scored in the paint, at the three-point line and with his mid-range jumper.
“I hope he’s OK”, Dellavedova said. “You don’t want to force up bad shots and there’s three or four shots now that I wish I could get back”. “Here, they’re up in the series, so I think it’s a situation where, with that, it gives Cleveland a better chance of prolonging the series”.
Harrison Barnes, a 6-foot-8 natural small forward who at times was the Warriors’ biggest player on the floor, struggled.
The All-Star forward was suspended Sunday for his fourth flagrant point of the postseason.
“He’s their best defender”, Lue said. It was a clutch performance from a player who was under siege following his dust-up with Green in the final minutes of Game 4.
Bogut was struck by Cleveland’s J.R. Smith and the Aussie landed awkwardly on his left leg, writhing in pain on the court. James was booed again as the Cavs left the court for their locker room, but thousands of fans had already made for the exits minutes earlier.
Advertisement
“Hopefully he’s OK”, Kerr said. An MRI exam is set for Tuesday.
