Splish, splash: Curry, Thompson lead Warriors to Game 4 win

Cleveland opened the night with the fire we had seen from them in Game 3, and they got Kevin Love back (who played well), but this time Golden State matched that energy – and in the second half did it with better execution.

The league MVP, Steph Curry, led all scorers with 38 points (11-25 FG, 7-13 3-pt, 9-10 FT), and his seven makes from beyond the arc were part of a historical night for the Warriors from three point land.

You can only hold Stephen Curry’s and Klay Thompson’s shooting down for so long – they hit 11 threes on their way to 63 combined points.

The Warriors are a minus-19 in 84 minutes with Andrew Bogut, Anderson Varejao, Festus Ezeli or Marreese Speights on the floor (not including garbage time in Games 1-3). It’s not impossible to win three straight games, but history and statistics say the Cavs sealed their fate by letting the Warriors take Game Four.

“This team has been through a lot together”.

“He said something I didn’t agree with”, James explained. “One team has to lose and one of those guys are going to get the blame. That’s the way we always approach things and it works out for us”.

This was the 88th overall win for the Warriors (73 in the regular season, 15 in the playoffs), breaking the National Basketball Association record they shared with the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

“They got going”, Kerr said. “That team’s hungry over there, and they’ve got some all-time great players”.

– Games decided by 10 points or less: Warriors 6-2, Cavaliers 4-1.

One game separates Golden State from a second straight title and Cleveland from Elimination.

“This is a great opportunity for us, and we need to play with a sense of urgency and a sense of aggression like we did tonight”, said Curry. “And going out and doing what we did in Game 3 was definitely a valiant effort for him, and we dedicated that game to him”.

But the Warriors won the day, and are now one win away from winning a title because of it. Game 5 is Monday in Oakland.

“All of our guys played extremely well”.

Kerr said there is no correlation between shootaround performance and the next game. Irving played with a wrap on his right thumb after hurting it in the first quarter.

Despite the loss, the Cavs had five players in double figures, led by Irving, with LeBron James almost logging a triple-double as he put up 25 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists.

Of the 32 teams that have faced a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals none have ever come back to win the championship.

“He could’ve gotten exhausted”, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said, of his standout forward.

“We just got to get one (win)”, James said of the upcoming trip to California. “I just think we’ve got to come back anyway, so we might as well come back and play”, said Lue, about the possibility of forcing a Game Six. “We’ve got to come back to Cleveland, don’t we?” The Warriors stretched that lead out to six at one point, but it was 79-77 after three.

But in the first real close game of the series, Curry proved again to be the NBA’s best closer.

Cleveland looked ready to pull away to start the second half when they extended their lead to eight and whipped the home crowd into a lather but Golden State would not fold.

Meanwhile, the more rested Warriors getting to loose balls, getting offensive boards, hustling more on defense, and with all that taking control of the game. Because you cannot have the mindset on starting and then someone sprains their ankle on the first play of the game and now you’re forced to play 36 minutes.

Cleveland’s point guard was terrific.