Cavs make no excuses following loss to Warriors

Warriors: Golden State had its streak of 47 straight regular-season home games with at least 100 points snapped….

Surprisingly, the Warriors – who held Cleveland to 31.6% shooting overall and 16.7% from three-point range – mostly downplayed the most interesting element of their rematch after their most dominant defensive performance of the season.

Whether his game on Friday was actually “horrible” or just maybe a less-than-stellar display than his usual is a matter of opinion, but James’s harsh self-critique should not come as a surprise considering he recently declared himself “the best player in the world” in an interview with Sports Illustrated. We know we know how to get to that point and we know we’ll reach that point. “No complaints on my part”.

Curry has improved his scoring from 23.8 points per game to 30.8 – the biggest one-year jump ever by an MVP – prompting Rose to say that Curry could be the most improved player and repeat as MVP this season in a remarkable tribute to the offseason work he put in even after winning a title.

The Cavilers quickly caught up to the Warriors and tied the game five times in the second quarter.

If you call LeBron James a crybaby at a game, just make sure he’s nowhere near the scene.

“We came out defensively and we did what we were supposed to do”, Curry said. Because afterward, given a chance to brag a bit about the showcase victory – their 28th of the season against just one defeat- the Warriors respectfully declined. “I didn’t think he could get that much better from previous year but I do think he’s gotten considerably better, which is quite a feat when you’re the reigning MVP”.

James had 25 points – but it took him 26 shots – for Cleveland, who got used to winning these types of games.

Leandro Barbosa also suffered a left shoulder sprain in the quarter and did not return.

He finished with 19 points.

“It’s good for us”, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. And when we do, I think that’s trouble because if we’re 28-1 and we’re not playing well, imagine where we are. But Iguodala from off the bench was able to pester James, and Livingston scored 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting.

The Warriors took their lead into third quarter and managed to hold off the Cavilers, preventing them from getting any closer than three points to tying the game. “But, offensively we’re all out of rhythm”, James said. “They are such a huge part of our success”. The Warriors power forward (and sometimes center) was the best player on the floor as evidenced by his final numbers: 22 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.

“We wanted to play a certain way in this gym against this particular team”, Blatt said.

The Warriors went into the locker room with a 45-42 halftime lead, marking their lowest-scoring first half of the season. It was only the 11th time in Basketball-Reference recorded history that a team attempted 30 three-pointers and made less than 17 percent of them.

Roughly halfway through the second period of Friday’s NBA Finals rematch, ABC cameras focused on LeBron James waiting near the sidelines as Draymond Green shot a pair of free throws.

The Cavaliers missed four free throws in the final 1:33.

“Listen, I was making a little coffee run (Christmas) morning, got some gas and chose to just go on Instagram and peruse”, Bryant told reporters. “He’s hurting the game”, Jackson said.