Christmas Present: Warriors Beat Cavs

Sean Taylor

December 29, 2015

OAKLAND, CA — Steph Curry wasn’t amazing, and the Warriors still beat the Cavaliers, 89-83.

Despite shooting poorly through much of the game (at least by their standards) the Warriors seemingly had the game in the bag midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to some borderline putrid shooting by the Cavaliers. A late Cleveland run cut the game to three before a Steph Curry layup and subsequent Cavaliers miss put the game on ice.

With some calf soreness and a shot that just seemed a little off all night, Steph Curry did not meet the high standard he has set for himself this season, albeit he did put up 19 points and 7 assists. But as is usually the case Draymond Green stepped up with 22 points and 15 rebounds, while point guard Shaun Livingston added 16 off the bench in a balanced scoring attack.

Marico Jose Sanchez

LeBron James led all scorers with 25 points and Kevin Love added 10 points to go along with 18 rebounds, but the Cavs couldn’t quite match Golden State in crunch time. LeBron missed a pair of late free throws and an open look down the stretch that would have kept the Cavaliers in it. Kyrie Irving, who just returned from a 6-month injury, has yet to look like the dynamic, game-changing player of last season in the handful of games since he has been back.

Takeaways:

Nothing new. Golden State is really good, and has a lot of different players who can beat you. LeBron James is a force of nature and the Cavaliers should round into form eventually. A Finals rematch between these two would be Christmas in June for NBA Fans.