Warriors vs. Cavs was no revenge game

“We just show our versatility and try to win different ways”.

Draymond Green leads all Warrior scorers with 22 points while grabbing 15 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.

Golden State’s shooting percentage wasn’t any better, shooting 41.0 per cent from the field (32-of-78 FGs) and 27.9 per cent from three (5-of-18 3FGs) but they championship-level defence that put the shackles on the Cavaliers’ key players.

“It’s good to practice and get experience in that type of game, as well, where it’s low-scoring, getting stops, knocking down free throws and executing in the half court”, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said”. We don’t fall in love with the things that make ’em great.

LeBron James scored 25 points to lead the Cavaliers, but it was not enough as their run of six successive wins came to an end.

“We’ve got a chance for a regular season sweep, and they’ve got a chance to tie it up 1-1”, Green said. “If we play like that defensively, we’re going to be a very tough team to beat. We’re not stopping until we go get it”.

Having both those players healthy for the rematch did little to help Cleveland. By the time the buzzer rang, Green had contributed 10 points to the Warriors scoreboard and Golden State led the Cavilers 28-19.

But Curry responded by driving past Cavaliers back-up Matthew Dellavedova for lay-ups with 1:19 and 57.6 seconds remaining, re-establishing an 85-80 lead the Warriors were able to protect with four late free throws.

“Tonight our defense was absolutely unbelievable for all 48 minutes”, Warriors center Andrew Bogut said.

The NBA Finals rematch between Golden State and Cleveland drew almost 11 million viewers, making it the most-watched Christmas game in four years. Not only did Cleveland hold Golden State to a season-low 89 points, it succeeded in dictating the general pace and style of Friday’s game. He was referring to Curry’s idol status in which kids growing up on the game are trying to emulate his game when they shouldn’t be.

Shooting guard J.J. Redick scored 14 points, forward Blake Griffin added 13 points and nine rebounds as the Clippers (17-13) defeated the Lakers for the eighth straight time. “It sucks to have to leave the court during the game, coming back and that kind of stuff, but I had to get myself taken care of”. One major question entering Christmas was how, exactly, Love might alter the matchup between these two teams after he missed the entire Finals due to injury.

After the second one, the camera briefly panned to James and Love exchanging words on the sideline.

Far more importantly, the Cavs were unable to exploit Stephen Curry being far from his best, limited by a sore calf that had to be examined both on the bench and in the locker room during the second quarter and briefly threatened to shelve him for the duration. He came back and played the rest of the way with no complaints.

But Curry said he understood what Jackson meant when the ESPN broadcaster spoke of how the reigning MVP has “hurt the game” to a degree by inspiring youths to focus on shooting 3-pointers rather than becoming all-around players. Smith even shot down the “This is just one game out of 82” mantra that James, Blatt and Irving were preaching, saying, “I think [the Finals result] was heavy on all our minds”.