After the first three games were decided by a combined 78 points, Golden State erased an eight-point lead during the second half and took a 3-1 lead in the series with a 108-97 win.
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Love sat out Game 3, and the Cavs barely missed him, rolling to a 120-90 win to trim Golden State’s lead to 2-1 in the series, which included a 33-point blowout by the Warriors in Game 2.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry finally has a breakout game and leads his Warriors to a Game 4 win – putting Golden State one win away from back-to-back National Basketball Association titles. And as good as LeBron’s final line looks in the box score (25 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, three blocks, 11-of-21 FGs), turnovers (seven) were again a major problem.
Love had 11 points and five rebounds from 25 minutes on the court.
It got to that point behind an NBA Finals single-game record 17 made 3-pointers and some stingy Warriors defense in the second half.
“I’m all cool with the competition, but some of the words that came out of his mouth were a little bit overboard”.
“Staying confident in myself, my teammates staying confident in me, staying with it”, Curry said of how he managed to turn things around.
He proved it by sending in James Michael McAdoo, who had played only two minutes in the previous two series, and not since Game 3 of the conference semifinals.
If the Warriors are going to claim their second successive NBA Championship, Steph Curry needs to fire. That was particularly true for Curry, the NBA’s two-time reigning MVP, who entered Game 4 averaging a paltry 16 points and 4.3 assists, numbers that got him roundly criticized.
Following two days of speculation about what Kerr and Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue would do with their lineups, they did exactly what they were expected. Andrew Bogut took a donut in just 10 minutes of action, and it was Barnes and Iguodala who really showed up in a meaningful way when the defending champs needed an extra little push to get over the hump.
“Obviously our locker room has seen it, and we’ll see what they say”, James said.
“This is a great opportunity for us, and we need to play with a sense of urgency and a sense of aggression like we did tonight”, said Curry. Thompson also upped his game and ended with 25 points.
CLEVELAND, OH – JUNE 10: Harrison Barnes #40 of the Golden State Warriors shoots the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Four of the 2016 NBA Finals on June 10, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cavaliers started to settle for jumpers and went stagnant offensively, right as Golden State got its role players going.
“They started making shots and getting stops”, James said. His desperate group will once more head back to the drawing board in an attempt to do the seemingly unthinkable: Steal a potential closeout Game 5 in what will undoubtedly be a very raucous Oracle Arena.
James was passive for much of the game, and it may have cost the Cavaliers.
CLEVELAND- The Cavaliers have a chance to even the series before heading back to Oakland.
That’s harder for them than you’d think.
“Last year I was a rookie coach”, Kerr said. And as as the high scorer in a Game 4 victory that brought the Warriors to the brink of back-to-back championships, he could laugh about it.
It was the Cavaliers’ first home loss this postseason.
Stephen Curry’s breakout game at the NBA Finals just happened to coincide with LeBron James suffering a breakdown.
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If this was James’ final home game – he can become a free agent in July – he went out with a whimper. Green also took a shot at James’ crotch as the players came untangled. “So we just have to be better in Game 5, and come in with the mindset to be aggressive for however many minutes we, myself and everyone else needs to play”.
