Warriors don’t give an inch to Cavaliers in Finals rematch

Green racked up 22 points, a season-high 15 rebounds and seven assists, putting away the Cavaliers with two free throws with 8.2 seconds left after having helped contain the threat of LeBron James.

“They were great”, Walton said of Livingston and defensive ace Andre Iguodala, who spent a majority of his 30 minutes going head-to-head with James. The Cleveland Cavaliers will be visiting the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.

Friday, Golden State took the lead for good near the end of the second quarter and seized control early in the third with a 9-4 run that Draymond Green punctuated with a driving dunk.

Oklahoma City skinny: Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook average a combined 51.9 points per game. Again, the Warriors don’t use their best lineup as often as expected, mostly because they don’t need to. The Warriors won despite all that, thanks to an impressive defensive effort that earned praise from their coach.

“Our guys love these type of games”, shared Luke Walton, according to NBC Sports. “To keep them to the 80s, they never really got in a flow where they could really attack us”. “We wanted to play this game a certain way in this gym against this particular team”.

Teammates playfully pelted Kevin Love with towels during his on-court interview, LeBron James was hopping around like a little kid, and the two of them joined J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson in a vaguely choreographed dance before they headed to the locker room. “They had no championship hangover”.

In a grinding contest that produced their lowest-scoring game this season, the Warriors improved to 14-0 at home this season with their 32nd overall home victory in a row. Defensively, the Cavs and Warriors were good, but on offense both teams were sloppy.

Their sparkling 27-1 record is marred only by a loss at the Milwaukee Bucks on the second night of a back-to-back, but they have rebounded with three more wins since that loss. “But when you’re 28-1 and not playing well, that’s exciting”. Though they’ve talked about shifting their focus to playing well, instead of just winning games, it probably felt grand to beat the Cavaliers while not playing well.

That was clear in last year’s Finals, when the Warriors limited the Cavaliers to 93.2 points per game in grinding out a 4-2 win in the best-of-7 series. Rather than try to fight it, the Warriors found a way to work within the confines of a different tempo and were grateful for the challenge.

That attitude perfectly represents the 2015-16 Warriors. A young, inexperienced team would be celebrating a win over King James and the Cavs; these Warriors know not to fall into the “statement game” or “measuring stick” trap.

“The memories will come back as soon as we walk into the building, but also understand it’s one of 82 and I’m not going to put everything into this game”, James said.

“Friday will not be the end of our season like it was in June,” James said.

“I have a pretty thick skin from my time in college, I don’t think it’s going to get any more intense than at Gonzaga or BYU when they are there 60 minutes before the game and are yelling and screaming from close range while you warm up”. The Warriors do not expect to get coach Steve Kerr (back) or forward Harrison Barnes (ankle) back by Friday.