CLEVELAND — The Golden State Warriors are one win away from their second consecutive championship after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-97 in a decisive Game 4 victory.
After three shaky games in a row, Steph Curry rediscovered his rhythm and sucked the life out of Quicken Loans Arena. Curry scored 38 points, hit 7/13 from downtown and looked like the real MVP on Friday night. Klay Thompson also got his swagger back, adding 25 points. The Warriors set an NBA Finals record with 17 made three-pointers.
In a critical stretch midway through the fourth quarter, the Warriors went on a patented 12-3 run, highlighted by a Shaun Livingston strip on LeBron James, a Curry driving layup and a Harrison Barnes back-breaking three-pointer. It put the Warriors up 93-84 with 5:56 left. On back-to-back plays after a timeout, LeBron and Kyrie Irving had their shots rejected at the rim by Draymond Green and Thompson, respectively.
It was a telling sequence of events that showed Golden State was the hungrier team in Game 4. Cleveland never recovered.
The Warriors initially made their move in the third quarter, draining six triples in a gorgeous display of transition shooting. Curry notched 11 points in the quarter and the Warriors outscored the Cavaliers 29-22, taking a 79-77 lead into the fourth. In the most surprising twist in the game, Anderson Varejao was fantastic in the third quarter, hustling for offensive rebounds and setting hard screens. In just four minutes of play, he helped flip the script against his longtime former team.
Up until the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers kept pace with the Warriors. This was by far the most competitive game of the series. Kyrie Irving was outstanding, again, scoring 34 points. LeBron was slamming home offensive rebounds and slowing down Green — Golden State’s feisty leader had 9 points and 11 rebounds. Green and LeBron had an intense smack talking moment late in the fourth quarter, where a double-foul was called. James finished with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists, but could’ve done more on offense. Tristan Thompson gave the Warriors fits in the first half, grabbing 5 offensive rebounds alone. Even Kevin Love was fine coming off the bench, chipping in 11 points, but found himself riding the pine in crunch time.
Listen to Sunday’s Game 5 at 5 pm on KNBR 1050 and KGO 810.
