Golden Statement: Curry, Warriors demolish Cavaliers 132-98

The Cavaliers get the chance to put their embarrassing 132-98 loss to Golden State on January 18 behind them quickly when they play in Brooklyn against the Nets on January 20. The game was being billed as Cleveland’s shot at revenge for last year’s NBA Finals and a previous loss at Golden State on Christmas Day.

“Tonight was an example of how far we have to go to be a championship team”, said James, who scored 16 points.

Stephen Curry said early this week that he hopes the locker room still smells like champagne in Cleveland.

No, the visiting locker room in Cleveland did not actually reek of the champagne the team sprayed in June. Also of note: the Warriors won their 89th straight game dating back to last season when they lead by 15 points in a game.

Warriors forward Draymond Green, grabbing a rebound ahead of Iman Shumpert, was at his stat-sheet-filling best, with 16 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.

Curry scored 35 points in three quarters as the Warriors reasserted their dominance by making sure the game that improved their record to 38-4 was never close.

“I knew one thing: Whatever team got him was going to get a very smart, complete guy”, James said.

After their visit to Cleveland, the Warriors play on the road against the Chicago Bulls, followed by home games against the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs. “We definitely have a lot of things to get better at and that’s going to take a lot of guys looking at themselves in the mirror and it all starts with our leader over there and trickles on down”.

“We’ve gotta get back to the basics”.

“Sometimes, you just get a bad bounce”, said Jrue Holiday, who led the Pelicans with 23 points and nine assists. Both physical and mental.

Cleveland Cavaliers’ Timofey Mozgov, top, from Russian Federation, and Golden State Warriors’ Harrison Barnes battle for a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Cleveland.

In addition to Curry and Thompson, the Cavaliers allowed three other Warriors to reach double figures in points. But when the game matters, which was the first half, they simply couldn’t keep up. LeBron James said it showed how far the team is from championship contention, David Blatt said the team was poorly prepared.

LeBron James was held to 16 points and faced the largest deficit of his career on a night when his team was expected to come into its home court with extra motivation. It would also be more than fair to suggest that LeBron has been much(!) better than Love throughout the course of the season.

The team that was without their star point guard during the finals past year claimed that with injuries they were unable to compete effectively.

While Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said that there is nothing wrong with the statement, Cleveland’s main man did not seem to agree. “That and a lack of mental preparation as much as anything else really hurt us”.

Yes, it was only one game and the Cavs still rule the East, but it showed they have much work to do to produce a different outcome if they meet the Warriors in the Finals again. Curry hit one of his seven 3-pointers on the ensuing possession. Smith, who arrived at the arena less than an hour before tip-off, was called for a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected.