Cleveland Cavaliers End Golden State Warriors Five Game Win Streak With Double-Digit Win

The Cleveland Cavaliers handed the Golden State Warriors their first road loss of the season last night 115-104. In doing so, they also ended the Dubs five game winning streak. The Cavs came into the game sitting at just 2-4, but three of the losses came with star point guard Darius Garland out due to injury. He was back against Golden State, and had a great game helping Cleveland get back on track and inch closer to .500. For the Warriors nobody was injured and there were no excuses, just simply an all around bad game where nobody could get anything going on offense as the team shot a brutal 34-94 from the field, good for 36.2%.

Draymond Green got the scoring started with a smooth three ball. But just a minute or two later, while fighting for a rebound, Cavs big man Jarrett Allen kicked Dray in the crotch and he was down for a while. When play resumed, newly acquired sharpshooter Max Strus striped a trey before Curry and Klay hit back to back shots from downtown giving the Warriors a 13-10 lead. The rest of the first quarter was neck and neck, with an abundance of three pointers being knocked down. Steph accounted for three himself, while Strus and Georges Niang nailed three combined. Garland had a chance to tie the game at 30 apiece to end the first, but went 1-2 from the line giving the Warriors a 30-29 lead after one. Unfortunately, the Dubs had perhaps their worst quarter of the season so far. They endured a five minute scoring drought before Klay finally buried a three to end the misery. Luckily, the Cavs were not on their A game to start the second, and only jumped out to a six point lead before Klay’s bucket. Klay then got another step back jumper to fall before Curry drilled a long ball knotting the game up at 38 all with just under six minutes to play. But Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland took over from there, leading the Cavs on their way to a 19-7 run to end the quarter. Mitchell scored ten straight including two sweet threes, before Garland got to the rack for two nifty layups on top of hitting a pair of free throws. And at the break, the Warriors found themselves down by double digits, 57-45.

Steph Curry came out hot to start the third, raining in 12 points including three threes. But the Cavs just kept finding a way to get a bucket, maintaining a double digit lead until the last minute of the third when CP3 found Kuminga for a three ball. With one quarter to play, Cleveland sat comfortably with a nine point cushion. The Dubs cut the lead to as low as four points after Chris Paul nailed a mid range jumper, but never got over the hump. The lack of size proved detrimental and Warriors just couldn’t get any stops. The Cavs put up 29 in the fourth and closed the game out strong led by Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus who accounted for 14 of the 29. 

Curry once again led the way for the Dubs, putting up 28 points on 8-16 from the field including 7-11 from beyond the arc. Draymond had a great scoring output with 18, recording 8 assists on top of that. Klay continued to struggle as he shot 5-14 adding up to 15 points and Kuminga followed suit also going 5-14 with 15 points. Chris Paul failed to get anything going as he finished with 5 points on a 2-10 clip. For Cleveland, it was a field day for the starting five as everyone hit double digits. Donovan Mitchell had 31, Garland had 24, and Strus, Mobley and Allen had 15, 13, and 12 respectively. Mobley feasted on the glass with 16 boards while Allen racked up 9 himself. 

The Warriors actually won the turnover battle, forcing 18 and only having 13, but the game was won in the paint and on the glass. The Warriors had a shockingly low 24 points in the paint, significantly lower than their average. In comparison, the Cavs had 58. Cleveland also outrebounded the Dubs 41-27. The fact of the matter is that this could have been expected going in as the Cavs boast one of the biggest frontcourts in the league with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. The Warriors lack size and it is just not reasonable to expect the likes of Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Dario Saric to stop these 7-footers all game. One last note, the Warriors actually ran the Cavs off the line and contested a lot of shots from deep, leading the Cavs to shoot under 30% from downtown, but they more than made up for it shooting just under 70% from inside the arc. 

Golden State now drops to 5-2 but will travel to Detroit and take on a struggling Pistons team led by Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren. The Warriors need to quickly turn things around and come out with more energy and a mindset of attacking the rim strong. Specifically, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins need to find their rhythm and hit their stride. I predict the Warriors will get back on track and give the Pistons their sixth loss of the season, 113-99.