Recap: Cavs 109, Warriors 108 (Or, Game 8)

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The Cavs and Warriors put on a show for Christmas. After gifting fans seven beautiful games over the summer, they added another one today that went down to the final seconds, despite the Cavs being down by 14 early in the 4th quarter. The Cavs trailed much of the night, but it wasn’t because of poor play at all.

Cleveland chased Golden State around the perimeter and limited them to just nine 3s and 48% shooting from the floor. The Cavs just couldn’t capitalize on their defense and shot a miserable 38%, even though they were getting wonderful looks from deep. When it mattered though, they were able to score.

LeBron had 31 points (16 of which came in the third quarter), 13 rebounds, and four assists. He was 4-8 from deep. Kyrie had 25 total points, six rebounds, and ten assists on 11-27 shooting. In the fourth quarter, he was unstoppable getting 14 points, two assists, two rebounds, and three steals. He even hit the game winning shot when he drove toward the paint, stopped, spun backwards, and faded to create space to let it fly over Klay Thompson. It put the Cavs up one with 3.4 seconds left.  Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 36 points (11-23) and 16 rebounds. He took 12 free throws too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yNGRsLlb3A

First Quarter

The Cavs had some great luck early on in the quarter as Draymond Green picked up two fouls in than less three minutes, one on Love and one on DeAndre Liggins. The latter one caused him to yell. He got a tech and got to ride the bench the rest of the quarter. The Cavs went to Love early and often.  He scored seven on six shots during 12 minutes of play. He refused to back down, despite Durant trying to suffocate him at times. Cleveland also played ridiculous defense holding the Warriors to zero made 3-pointers, but the wine and gold went just 4-12 at the rim, so they weren’t able to take a lead.

Durant made ridiculous shot after ridiculous shot scoring 12 of the Warriors first 18.

There was an awesome sequence midway through the quarter that started when LeBron got a steal and breakaway dunk. Durant then responded instantly by catching a long pass and smashing on Love. Durant didn’t realize that would fire up Kev and make him do a Joey Flacco impersonation though. Love actually launched the ball from out of bounds the length of the floor to the King for his second dunk in 14 seconds.

https://twitter.com/SportsQuotient/status/813111053378875392

After one, the Warriors led 27-25.

Second Quarter

Klay Thompson opened the quarter with a 3-pointer, as Kyrie fell behind him after he made some quick off ball moves. KY made up for his mistake though. After slicing up Draymond on the baseline, Irving got into the paint and threw a perfect pass to Frye who was cutting and slammed it home for two. Frye scored again when the King drove and kicked it out to him for a 3 a few plays later.

A Klay 3-pointer at 8:04 gave the Warriors an eight point lead, and forced Lue to call a timeout because it was such an open shot. The Cavs sort of responded, well Kyrie did. He came out and scored two tough shots in a row, including one he tipped in over Draymond. The Warriors kept their lead until the Cavs went on a 10-0 run starting at 3:49 to tie it up. The Cavs were pounding the offensive glass for easy second chance shooting fouls, and they were getting shots near the rim during their run. They grinded hard.

James finished the quarter off perfectly. He split the defense after Irving set a soft pick near the 3-line and scored on a layup going between two more Warriors at the rim. He fell, but got up immediately and ran down the court to swat a Zaza Pachulia attempt away. The Cavs went into the locker room down 55-52.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O_kdAycznw

Third Quarter 

LeBron’s 3rd quarter shot chart.

Love started the quarter with a 3-pointer and Durant returned the favor. James was the star of the third. He scored 16 and went 4-6 from deep. The Warriors were daring him to shoot it; it wasn’t working out for them. They countered, though, and were able to respond with five 3s of their own to keep Cleveland from getting ahead. Durant scored 11 at will on 4-6 shooting, which also prevented a lead change.

The Cavs kept up until the final three minutes when they were out scored 8-4. The King turned it over once, Richard Jefferson and Iman Shumpert both missed open looks, and KD was able to do a simple crossover and slam on RJ. The King scored the final basket after racing to the rim with just  six seconds left. He got fouled and split the pair. The Cavs entered the fourth down 87-80.

Fourth Quarter

The Cavs started the quarter with LeBron on the bench, and it got scary. Kyrie went a little dribble crazy and turned it over twice in the first 1:20, while the Warriors scored seven unanswered points to go up by 14. Richard Jefferson wasn’t having it though and responded by dunking all over Durant after a nice left handed drive. He finished it by winking at Durant and earned a tech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j54KUP7s-6g

The game didn’t flip then though. It took a few more minutes for Irving to morph into Mr. Fourth Quarter. At 7:34 with the Warriors up 11, he nailed a 3 after DeAndre Liggins found him. That launched the Cavs comeback. He dribbled down the next possession and laid it in.

The King stole the ball back right after that. RJ then pump faked and drove by Green only to get fouled by Curry at the rim. That brought the Cavs within four with 6:45 left. The Warriors lead hovered at four until James found Shumpert for a 3 with 4:42 to go that brought Cleveland within two. Curry scored immediately, but RJ hopped in a time machine again for yet another dunk. This time it was over Klay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgqYiqfD-CM

James copied Jefferson and responded to a Green layup with a dunk the next possession. Irving offered up the dunk when he was surveying the floor at the elbow and James happened to cut to the hoop. Irving then decided it was time to tie the game. He stole the ball from Draymond when he was dribbling to the rim looking for an open man. Irving then proceeded to score over Kevin Durant with a left handed hook shot that danced on the rim for five seconds before it tied the game at 103 with 2:18 left.

Irving extended the lead when he unleashed the KRAKEN. He blew by Curry along the baseline and saw the King cutting. LeBron slammed it home and even hung on the rim for a few seconds to make a point.

The Warriors then went up by three with 1:14 left after Curry hopped open at the 3-line. Irving remained calm though. The next play RJ launched a last second 3-pointer to beat the shot clock after the Cavs were unable to get anything else. The ball was tipped out to Andre Iguodola. Iggy quickly passed to Durant, but it wasn’t clean. Irving was able to chase the ball down and steal it back. Irving then dribbled right back up and split the Warriors defense using a Love screen on his way to an open layup.

Down one, the Cavs then forced the Warriors into a shot clock violation with some stifling defense.

At that point, Irving sank the game winner mentioned above. He rose up the perfect amount to get the shot off over the taller Thompson with 3.4 seconds to go.  The Warriors then took a time out and inbounded the ball to Durant. RJ smothered Durant after LeBron had to switch off of him. RJ forced him out to the 3-line and KD fell down (RJ might have stepped on his foot) to end the game without even attempting a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8R5xEgJWuc

Gripes

1.The refs were bad this game. In the third quarter, LeBron was getting hacked on nearly every possession, and they wouldn’t call anything. They also blew a charge call. DeAndre Liggins was set up for several seconds in the third quarter before Green rammed into him. Green got the call though.

2.Irving’s defense wasn’t amazing and he did lose Thompson and Curry when they were off the ball for several 3s. In the end it didn’t matter though. Klay scored 24 and was 5-11 from deep.

3. Shumpert was pretty bad, except for his 3 in the fourth. He was dribbling far too much and was 1-9. RJ was also terrible until the fourth quarter. He was just 2-11 for the whole game. His only made shots were his dunks.

4.Durant was scoring way too easily all night; he’s apt to do that though. Lue probably should have played LeBron on him a little more instead of letting Love and RJ get runs on him.

Hypes

1.The Cavs didn’t give up at all this game, despite their shots just not going down. If Shump and RJ were making all the open 3s they usually do, the Cavs would have blown the Warriors out. If KD wasn’t hitting everything or getting foul calls, this game would have been a blow out.

2.LeBron was fantastic as usual. He only had four assists to five turnovers, but he was steady and let the game come to him. The Warriors were playing the passing lanes, and he was comfortable enough to drive to the rim and take open jumpers.

3.Kyrie is a human highlight reel the final 12 minutes each night. The combination of him and LeBron is almost unbeatable. LeBron gets the team to the end with the game in reach and Irving just makes sure the Cavs win. His ability to hit tough shots when the team needs them is the best in the league. He also had timely defense tonight. His steal from Durant at the end of the game made the game winnable. Same with his steal on Green.

4.RJ WAS THE BEST DUNKER TONIGHT. REWATCH THOSE VIDEOS. RJ makes no sense. He was awful nearly the whole game and then nailed two beast mode dunks.

5. DeAndre Liggins was really valuable. He did an awesome job on Curry. Curry scored 15, but was just 2-7 from the 3-line. Lue was smart to have him cover Curry anytime he was on the floor with Irving. Dre’ went down in the second for a few minutes, but he appeared to be okay the second half of the game.

6.Lue also made great lineups decisions. He didn’t let the Warriors scare him into playing any differently. He rode the hot hand of Love in the first. Love wasn’t necessarily making everything, but he was attacking hard and Lue let him play the entire quarter. Love had six boards and 20 points on 5-13 shooting. He went to the line eight times.

7. TT was phenomenal. He switched out when he needed to, but more importantly he made the Warriors work for every single rebound. He had just two defensive rebounds, but he had six offensive boards. He helped LeBron secure tons of boards by making the Warriors use multiple guys to box him out.

8. At times it felt like the Cavs were turning it over a ton, but they only had 12 turnovers. The Warriors had 19.

9.This was a well earned win. The Warriors have some stuff to fix still, and a lot of it is on the defensive end. Without a big that can shot block, Curry is huge liability. Irving was able to blow by him all night and scrambled the Warriors defense.

10.The Cavs play in Detroit tomorrow. Have a great Christmas.