Warriors beat Cavs to take 2-0 Finals series lead

But should they want to avoid a 3-0 deficit, something no team has ever come back from in a playoff series, guarding the perimeter will have to be a major emphasis as the Warriors made an NBA Finals-record 18 three-pointers, surpassing their 17-makes in Game 4 a year ago. “We’re young, healthy, and playing a game we love”. “Steph made a great move, got by him and finished”.

The Warriors, on an National Basketball Association record 14-game playoff win streak, lead 2-0 in the best-of-7 championship series entering Wednesday, June 7 (Thursday, June 8 in Manila) for the 3rd game at Cleveland.

LeBron James struggled to put a positive spin on Cleveland’s performance against Golden State on Sunday after they suffered another mauling in Game Two of the NBA Finals series. “My guys did OK while I was gone”, Kerr joked to NBA.com before the game, referring to interim coach Mike Brown’s ideal playoff record.

“We had a lot of guys who played exceptionally well individually”, Kerr said. For me, it did feel good to see the ball go in. “This is the same thing that happened a year ago”, the source pointed out.

Now, Golden State is headed to Northeast Ohio needing just two more – yet don’t count on anybody considering this series close to done. I don’t know because there’s always been talk about Chris Paul and LeBron James teaming up at some point, but I just don’t know if the chemistry fits with them. “But it will mean something”. And I played on some great Laker teams. “When I’m done, I’ll probably look back on it and say it was a cool feat”.

Guard Stephen Curry had a triple-double of his own but also committed eight turnovers. “I’ve just got to keep battling”. In the one-point victory, Cleveland forced a shot clock violation with 13.4 seconds remaining by playing man-to-man and having forward Richard Jefferson come over to help forward Kevin Love defend Green with 1.3 seconds left on the shot clock.

In the meantime, the Warriors head to Cleveland looking to potentially finish off a clean sweep of these playoffs and win their second championship in three seasons.

Kyrie Irving was off his game, and the Cavs finally had a bad night shooting the 3-pointer.

He, too, shrugged off individual glory.

“We know this is far from over”.

They have to do it quickly or Cavs-Warriors III could end up being a much shorter series than the first two editions of the Finals trilogy that the teams split.

A year later, Curry returns to the Finals stage with a clean bill of health and with a much better team.

“They’re obviously trying to make a few other guys make plays”, Irving said, “and when we’re coming off our isolations, they’re bringing a few more bodies to clog the lane”. When Cleveland went small, Kerr countered with an effective small lineup – centers Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee played less than 16 combined minutes.

Despite Cleveland taking 11 more shots and creating 20 turnovers, the Warriors still won by 19. “We’re going home, the crowd will be behind our back and we have to go out there and play”. The Warriors hold a 2-0 lead in the Finals. Golden State remains ideal in this postseason, and with a record-setting 14-0 playoff record this year they’re doing something very, very special.

Leading the Warriors’ effort – again – was Kevin Durant, with33 points. But the Warriors caught fire shooting the ball in the third quarter, stretching the lead to double digits.