Warriors still confident of winning second straight title

Some nights, he doesn’t.

Fortunately, Irving and James clicked like never before.

In Game 5, we first saw the Irving/Thompson sideline screen with the Cavs in a 9-3 hole…

Andrew Bogut is helped off the court after injuring his knee.

“It (is disappointing) that it happened (Monday) with the opportunity we had in front of us to close out a series at home in front of our home fans, and it’s a tough feeling”, Warriors guard Stephen Curry said.

The Warriors missed 33 of their 45 shots (26.7-percent shooting) after halftime.

This isn’t to say Kyrie Irving’s 30 and 41 point offensive showcases in Games 3 and 5, respectively, weren’t impressive.

The Warriors will see the return on Thursday night of fellow big man Draymond Green, who missed Game 5 while serving a one-game suspension for his below-the-belt hit on LeBron James.

“We get to go back home, and we’ve played well there all year”, Love said.

Without saying it directly, the Warriors thought they’d have won Game 5 in Oakland – except Draymond Green was suspended. Had the Warriors pulled out a victory without Steph Curry leading a high-octane comeback, Thompson might have racked up a bloc of Finals MVP votes. There’s also a far better chance that the Warriors improve on their 3-for-22 3-point shooting from the second half of Game 5. “We understand the magnitude of what Game 6 means for us at home, and we know that it will be an incredible level that they’re going to play at, and we have to play at an even better level”. Steve Kerr tried some small ball, with Harrison Barnes and James Michael McAdoo at center, for a few minutes here and there. But he mostly went traditional.

Warriors roll by 48, the Cavs aren’t in the same league! That’s in line with Golden State’s regular season output (14.1 percent), as was their conversion rate, which was 43.1 during the regular season and 43.8 percent in the playoffs. But their defensive versatility with their Green-at-center lineups is a huge part of their success, especially when it comes to defending quick ball-handlers coming off a screen. A little mobility goes a long way.

“I let my teammates down not being in the game”, Green said, “regardless whether I say it [the swipe] wasn’t that much [for a suspension] or someone else wants to have an opinion it wasn’t that much”.

Facing elimination on the road, Irving reached deep mentally and physically and scored a playoff career-high 41 points on 17-of-24 shooting, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in National Basketball Association history to score 40 or more points and shoot at least 70% from the field. The Warriors still have excellent defenders to throw at these guys in the aforementioned Green, Thompson and Iguodala.

Both Irving and James scored in a variety of ways on Monday. Their drives were actually down from previous games.

“No one will be Bogut”, Green added.

Without their versatile forward, the Warriors fell 112-97 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, though they still lead the series 3-2.

Golden State was awaiting final results of an MRI exam on Bogut, the Australian who suffered a left knee injury early in the third quarter Monday, to know his status for the remainder of the series. Shaun Livingston was minus-16 off the bench. But give them credit, they played a great game.

“It would have been nice to win … but we didn’t win”.