Whenever you think of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, you instantly think of the long-standing rivalry in the 2010s that reached the NBA Finals. However, in the present day, things are a lot different.
While the Warriors have three survivors from that rivalry in Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and head coach Steve Kerr, Cleveland has moved on with a different team; however, the Cavs have made the rivalry the focal point of Saturday’s game.
They are welcoming back former fan favorite Anderson Varejao for a bobblehead giveaway. The Brazilian spent his entire 14-year career with the two franchises.
But while back then, the two teams were head and shoulders above the rest in the NBA, and the battles between Curry and LeBron James were the stuff of legends, times have changed, and both teams head into their latest battle in rocky form.
While the Cavs shook off the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, that was only their second win in six games, while Golden State come into this having lost two on the bounce.
Cleveland will complete a back-to-back home stand, having beaten the Spurs 130-117 thanks to 28 points from Donovan Mitchell, with Evan Mobley adding 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
“Offensively, we’ve been begging our guys to get to the paint more, and Evan was getting to the rim,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Guys were getting downhill. That was the story of the game.”
Additionally, Cleveland scored 80 points in the paint, its franchise high since the league started tracking that particular statistic in 1996. They also shot a season-high 58 percent from the floor.
Jaylon Tyson was one of the Cavs’ unsung heroes in what has been an injury-riddled season for the team, going 9-for-11 from within the arc.
“Jaylon is getting more and more comfortable and started showing some extra moves,” Mobley said.
“It’s hard, especially for a young player, trying to get yours and playing your role. I think he’s been figuring that out, which is good for us going forward.”
They face a Golden State team that has lost two in a row, their latest being a narrow 99-98 defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers in a game that saw rookie VJ Edgecombe score the deciding basket with 0.9 seconds to go.
And Curry, one of the survivors from the Warriors’ team that battled with the Cavs in the 2010s, will be missing for another week with a bruised left quad. Pat Spencer has stepped up in Curry’s absence, totaling 33 points and 10 assists in the last two games.