They went almost seven minutes between baskets in the fourth, and the Warriors countered with Harrison Barnes’ fourth 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead to 93-84 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left.
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LeBron James gave another virtuoso effort with 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Cavaliers, who were without forward Kevin Love, sidelined by a concussion suffered in a game two loss last Sunday.
Warriors forward Draymond Green had another explanation.
“It has been like that all year for the most part”, James said.
“He (LeBron) never gets calls…” “He’s a competitor. He’s been under a heavy microscope, and rightfully so”.
After struggling through the first three games of the series, the Splash Brothers finally arrived.
“I don’t know that the shots were that much better than they’ve been, I just think they got going”, Kerr said.
“The work is not done”, Curry said. “We answered the bell”. The Cavs represent the other side of this – when things get tough, they fall back into hero ball.
“We felt threatened”, Kerr said. “He’s the MVP for a reason”.
After blowing out the Warriors by 30 in Game 3, the Cavaliers blew their chance to even the series. “That team’s hungry over there, and they’ve got some all-time great players”. “We always talk about just because we’re going home doesn’t mean you can relax or take things for granted”.
In the Quicken Loan Arena hallways the Cavaliers fumed about the play, and you can bet they’ll be furious if Green is in uniform Monday.
If Cleveland are to win a maiden National Basketball Association title this season, they will have to win three straight games over a Golden State team that has not lost three straight all season. If the doctors say he can play, then he’ll play – but it wouldn’t seem likely that the Cavaliers will get away from what worked Wednesday.
It didn’t produce the same result, and with the game on the line, the Cavaliers went back to what hurt them in the first two games: too much dribbling and too many isolation plays.
Irving ended the quarter with a game-high seven points, while James was the Cavaliers’ leading playmaker with three assists and three rebounds.
The Warriors seem destined to cross the finish line Monday at Oracle Arena, clinching a title in the Bay Area for the first time in franchise history.
“We needed to bounce back individually and as a team to figure out how to get a win on the road and put ourselves in pretty good position”, Curry said. There were only 14 lead changes combined over the first three games, but Game 4 featured 18 lead changes and 14 ties. But Golden State didn’t waver, closing out the quarter strong to lead 29-28 after the first 12 minutes. By inserting Richard Jefferson into the starting line-up and moving LeBron to power forward, the Cavs took a big step towards closing the defensive holes that the Warriors had mercilessly exposed in Games 1 and 2.
Stephen Curry has 25 points and Klay Thompson 21 for Golden State.
When James was introduced before the game, he went through his usual handshake ritual with his teammates before telling Irving, “Be special”.
The Warriors, when firing on all cylinders, are one giant 3-point shooting machine. Thompson played college ball at Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.
Green has found himself in another postseason mess.
“But our offense did stall a little bit in the fourth quarter”, LeBron said, although he denied any fatigue. Skip Bayless of ESPN First Take commented that Curry looked out of sorts, like his head wasn’t in the game.
After three duds, the NBA Finals produced an intense and compelling Game 4, and Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson finally showed up.
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Combined, they’re shooting 31 for 77 (40 percent) from the field in the series, 16 for 45 (36 percent) from 3-point range, and have shot a combined nine free throws between them. He played 37 minutes and was plus-11 for the game.
