Warriors rap Cavs, improve to 28-1

“You want to send a message…Every time you play a team that’s playing well and at the top of the league, you want to show up and play well and get wins, so that’s what tonight was about”. We were getting shots. “No complaints on my part to the guys, that’s for sure”. Curry had two uncontested layups on consecutive possessions in the last two minutes when the game was still in reach, one in which he fooled LeBron James with a nifty hesitation move and then one in which he crossed over Matthew Dellavedova and no help ever arrived.

“We came out defensively and we did what we were supposed to do”, Curry said. However, their story is about a lot more than just one star player taking the team on his back. “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”.

December 25, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) reacts in the fourth quarter of a NBA basketball game on Christmas against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena.

There is no denying the fact that it was a match that would have gone to Cavaliers with some better show from him.

On the defensive end, Green’s presence was also felt, as his two blocks and 14 defensive boards contributed to his +14 plus-minus rating, which was the highest for any player in the game not named Steph Curry. James had 25 points and 9 rebounds while Irving and Love had 13 and 10 points, respectively.

He finished with 19 points.

“It’s good to practice and get experience in that type of game as well, where it’s low scoring, getting stops, knocking down free throws and executing in the half court”, interim coach Luke Walton said.

This was an unlikely character for the Warriors as they played the defensive game and seldom you see them score below 90 points. “But, offensively we’re all out of rhythm”, James said.

Help is on the way, if only the Warriors can hold it together another couple weeks and avoid the all-out panic that will come if they slump all the way to, say, 75-win pace and only break the single-season record by three games as opposed to the current tracking to 79 victories.

The honors keep rolling in for Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who won the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year award Saturday. The Cleveland Cavaliers left a lump of coal in fans’ stockings after falling short to the Golden State Warriors in a game that was tantalizingly close to being the final gift on a day that was full of them. The Warriors didn’t play their best basketball, but they played well enough to beat Cleveland.

“We want more”, Curry said. “That did catch up with us”.

And yet, one foolhardy Golden State Warriors fan took on that burden in the Warriors’ clash against James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers missed four free throws in the final 1:33. “Because we know we’re going to get to that point”.

However, Jackson, an analyst for ESPN who was courtside for the Warriors’ Christmas Day game against the Cavaliers, is not bitter. The Warriors improved to 28-1, including a ideal 14-0 home record.

Wade’s tough jumper with 1:45 left in overtime gave him 273 points on Christmas, one more than Shaquille O’Neal for No. 3, and Bosh followed that about a minute later with a three-point play. “Gradually we will push that up”, Cavaliers coach David Blatt said, “but we are not treating his minutes as a function of game situation.”…