Warriors’ energy exhausts reeling Cavs
Playing desperate brings out close to the best in Golden State.
Weaving his way toward Golden State’s locker room, where the Warriors were packing for home, Stephen Curry had to handle one last double-team.
Two Cavaliers fans wanted a photo with him.
“Gotta be quick,” Curry said, pausing and smiling for the group selfie.
Curry was happy to please, and happier the NBA Finals were tied agai n.
With Curry’s shooting touch back to normal, Andre Iguodala playing like a younger version of himself, and coach Steve Kerr’s gamble to tweak his starting lineup — even if he had to lie about it — the Warriors knotted these entertaining finals Thursday night with a 103-82 win over the gassed Cavaliers, who are desperate for rest and help for LeBron James.
Facing the prospect of falling behind 3-1, the Warriors came out to play. They were energized from the start, and they finished off the understaffed Cavs with a dominant fourth quarter, a 12- minute bombardment of big shots to seize momentum going into Sunday’s Game 6 at noi sy Oracle Arena.
These were the Warriors closer to full volume, 9 out of 10.
“We really picked up our in-
tensity level,” sai d forward Draymond Green, who moved to center in Kerr’s smaller starting lineup. “We conte sted shots. We got on loose balls, and we rebounded. We battled.”
Questioned by some critics for being too laid back, the Warriors were more physical, more focused and more urgent than previously in this series. They outran the frazzled Cavs, pushing the bal l up the floor af ter made baskets and imposing their will for 48 minutes.
Curry was Curry agai n. After missing 20 of 26 3-pointers in the first three games, he knocked down four 3s and scored 22. He’s made 9 of his las t 15 3- pointers, an encouraging sign for the Warriors.
Iguodala, though, was Golden State’s best player. He scored 22 points, made James work for every shot and while making his first start of the season, he set the early tempo by outrunning Cleveland’s defense for a pair of dunks.
“He’s one of the X-factors, and he came to pl ay,” James said of Iguodala. “He was in attack.”
Kerr went with a small- er lineup — he benched center Andrew Bogut — and it’s likely he’ll stick with a group that causes matchup problems for the Cavaliers. Kerr admitted afterward that he wasn’t truthful leading into the game for fear of Cleveland making an adjustment.
Given the Cavs’ fragile state, it may not have mattered.
The postgame scene in their training room underscored their brittle condit ion. James needed stitches for a head cut sustained when he banged into a courtside camera; Matthew Dellavedova took an ice bath to soothe his cramping muscles; Iman Shumpert had his bruised left shoulder enc ased in ice.
After carrying his teammates in three games, James was due a sub-standard performance. He still managed 22 points , 12 rebounds and eight assists, but he was unable to dictate the tempo this time.
Blatt may need to re-consider his rotations. He’s only playing seven pl ayers, ignoring veterans Mike Miller and Shawn Marion, former champions who might be able to provide vital minutes and ease James’ burden. Also, the Cavs need to get something, anything, from J.R. Smith, who missed all eight 3-pointers in Game 4.