Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cavaliers deny Warriors title, bid for perfect run
CLEVELAND — Cleveland stopped Golden State’s perfect postseason and possibly started another comeback.
Just like last year, the NBA Finals are at 3-1 after four games.
LeBron James recorded a triple-double, Kyrie Irving scored 40 points and Cleveland outperformed Golden State’s high-powered offense in a testy Game 4 filled with technical fouls Friday night, beating the Warriors 137-116 and snapping their 15-game playoff winning streak.
“We just kept our composure,” James said. “We shared the ball, we moved the ball and defensively we were physical.”
A series that appeared to be headed for a quick conclusion returns to California for Game 5 on Monday night.
The Cavs set scoring records in the first half and then held on during wild third and fourth quarters that included technical fouls, James jawing with fellow superstar Kevin Durant and a roaring Cleveland crowd.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
But until the Cavs did it last year, no team had ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the Finals. Cleveland won Game 3 at home, lost Game 4 and then won the final three games — Game 7 in Oakland — to capture the city’s first sports championship since 1964.
The Warriors had swept their first three series and were 48 minutes away from a party they’ve been planning for a year. But it’s on hold and Golden State fans are holding their breath.
Durant, still one victory from the championship he left Oklahoma City to get, scored 35 but got little help from Stephen Curry, who scored 14 on 4-of-13 shooting.
James finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth career triple-double in the Finals, breaking the record of eight held by Magic Johnson.
Kevin Love added 23 points for Cleveland, which made 24 3-pointers and finished the first half with a jaw-dropping 86 points.
“We just wanted to come out tonight and lay it all on the line,” Love said after the game. “That first quarter we were great, the first half we were great.”
Love said the team made some changes after Game 2, although he didn’t elaborate. “We wanted to throw a haymaker tonight. We wanted to force some tough shots,” he said.
The third quarter featured a confusing sequence and a scramble on the floor that resulted in two technicals, a friend of James being escorted from the arena and backand-forth flurries similar to a heavyweight boxing match.
It was announced at one point that Golden State’s Draymond Green had been given his second technical foul and security came onto the floor to usher the volatile forward to the locker room. However, a technical assessed to him in the first half was actually called on Warriors Coach Steve Kerr, leading to the confusion.
Later, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia was involved in a pileup of players in the foul lane and he delivered two swipes to Iman Shumpert’s groin area as the referees tried to maintain control. Pachulia could have been ejected, but was only given a technical as was Shumpert. As this was being sorted out, Todd Leebow, a friend of James got involved in an argument with Golden State’s bench and was asked to leave.
The Cavs were determined not to let the Warriors celebrate on their floor for the second time in three years, and it was Cleveland, not Golden State, which busted Finals scoring records in the first half. Cleveland scored 49 in the first quarter and 86 during a dizzying opening 24 minutes that left players and fans gasping for air.
And beyond their firepower, the Cavs did it on defense, holding the up-anddown Warriors without a single fast-break point.
Cleveland built an early 16-point lead and for the first extended time in the series, the defending champions looked and played like the superior team at both ends.
Golden State clawed within seven, but then the Warriors began fouling and Kerr got nailed with his technical — one of seven in the game. Fueled by the outburst, the Cavs went on a 12-2 run capped by a 3-pointer from Love and dunk by 36-year-old Richard Jefferson, who earlier in the day said he and his teammates would approach the 3-0 deficit like a marathon, “one step at a time.”