LeBron, Cavs halt Warriors’ run
CLEVELAND 137 GOLDEN STATE 116 (Warriors lead series 3-1)
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers stopped Golden State’s perfect post-season and maybe started another comeback.
Just like last year, the NBA final is at 3-1 after four games.
LeBron James recorded a triple-double, Kyrie Irving scored 40 points and Cleveland outperformed the NBA’s most electrifying offence in a testy Game 4 filled with technical fouls on 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 is California bound for Game 5 on Monday night.
The Cavs set scoring records in the first half and then held on during a wild third and fourth quarter that included technical fouls, James jawing with fellow superstar Kevin Durant and Cleveland’s crowd roaring like a jet engine.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs.
But until the Cavs did it last year, no team had ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the finals. Cleveland took 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.
As the final seconds ticked off, Cleveland fans chanted “Cavs in 7.”
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 win from the coveted 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 threepointers and finished the first half with a jaw-dropping 86 points.
If not for Cleveland’s Kyle Korver missing a three-pointer in the final minute of Game 3, the series would be 2-2.
In any event, the Cavs are still breathing and it’s now the Warriors who may be feeling the pressure after blowing a 3-1 lead last June.
The third quarter featured a confusing sequence and a scramble on the floor that resulted in two technical fouls, a friend of James being escorted from the arena and back and forth flurries worthy of a heavyweight boxing match.
At one point, it was announced 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.