The Golden State Warriors weren’t supposed to win on Thursday night. They were supposed to do what they did on Wednesday night, and get overpowered by a star-studded team that stands among the NBA’s elite.
Ultimately, they didn’t win. But they sure didn’t get overpowered either. The Dubs welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers to town on Thursday night, and went toe to toe with them all night, nearly pulling off the upset. In the end, though, they ran out of juice, as old frenemy James Harden took over, and led the Cavs to a 118-111 victory.
It was a tremendously fun game in the early going. The pace was dialed up to 11, and the Warriors’ defense was swarming, particularly on the perimeter, where Harden and Donovan Mitchell were getting agitated and uncomfortable.
But while the defense and energy levels were both impressive, Golden State couldn’t make a shot, and soon trailed 20-11. They were undeterred, however, and combated their own cold jumpers and missed layups with a bevy of ball movement and a plethora of penetration. They got good look after good look at the rim, and while they missed plenty of them, they eventually made enough to rattle off an 11-2 run, tie the game, and force a timeout from former Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson.
The Cavs did find rhythm late in the quarter, but the Warriors ended on a high note, when Kristaps Porziņģis got an offensive rebound and dunked it home with one second remaining. Cleveland led 30-26 after the opening quarter.
It wasn’t a pretty start to the second quarter for either team. The high-energy affair turned chaotic and careless for both squads. Eventually the Cavs, with their cast of stars, began to find rhythm that was eluding the Dubs, and they were able to slowly build a double-digit lead as we passed the halfway mark in the quarter. For the rest of the quarter the Warriors were unable to get too close, but they didn’t let Cleveland pull away, either. After looking like they might lose contact, De’Anthony Melton helped the Warriors have a dynamic sequence late in the quarter when trailing by 13: he nabbed a steal at halfcourt, and took it the other way for a layup, then grabbed a second halfcourt steal. This time Mitchell blocked his transition layup attempt, forcing a jump ball. But Melton won the jump ball, and immediately drained a three.
Golden State was still missing a million shots at the rim, but their defense was stunningly active. It was thanks to that active defense — which created a 16-4 points off turnover advantage at halftime — that kept the Warriors within fighting distance at the break. They trailed 54-47, despite shooting just 37.3% from the field, and allowing the Cavs to shoot 50.0%.
The Dubs put those shooting woes behind them to start the third quarter, by positively blitzing the Cavs out of the break. Draymond Green drained a three on the first possession, and after Jarrett Allen missed a pair of free throws, Brandin Podziemski answered by making a pair. A few moments later, a Podziemski steal led to a Gui Santos layup, and the Warriors had gone on a 7-0 run in the first 80 seconds to tie the game.
Unfortunately, the shooting woes had just been put on pause, and didn’t actually disappear. That little burst was followed by a flurry of missed shots, despite the team getting good looks. The Cavs were turning missed shots into easy buckets on the other end, and responded to the Warriors 7-0 run with a 14-2 explosion of their own. Just like that, they were fully in control.
The theme for the Warriors to this point in the game was missed threes. They were missing all manner of shots, but were especially ice cold from deep. But that all turned around in a hurry thanks to the immaculate shooting stroke of LJ Cryer, who drained triples on three consecutive possessions to pull the Warriors right back into the game, and force an Atkinson timeout. Pat Spencer made a three after the timeout, and suddenly the Warriors had cut the double-digit deficit down to two points.
Shortly later, the Warriors would tie the game, and it really felt like they had an answer for everything. The Cavs would score, the Warriors would answer. The Cavs would force a turnover, the Warriors would do the same. Finally Cleveland found a tiny touch of rhythm to end the quarter, but it was only an 84-80 advantage heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, it became clear that both teams were locking in. The Warriors sensed that they could actually pull away and win the game, while the Cavs realized they were in a dogfight. And as a result, the game got intense and chippy, quickly. In a span of just a few seconds of game time — but a few minutes of life time — former Warrior Dennis Schröder committed a flagrant foul, which led to a Green technical. Then Schröder got a technical for something else, and shortly after that, Atkinson got one as well. Meanwhile, players were running into each other, shoving each other, and fouling each other hard.
Yet as it all happened, the Warriors were the ones who funneled that energy into their play, turning the intensity into an 11-1 run that gave them a four-point lead, and had the Chase Center positively rocking. Podziemski and Santos, in particular, were doing heroic things in the final frame, but after 44 minutes, the Warriors had started to exhaust their supply of steam. Cleveland chipped away at the small Golden State lead, and turned it into a five-point advantage of their own as we hit the two-minute mark. Podziemski tried to keep the Warriors afloat — he had their final eight points — but it wasn’t enough, as they could no longer stop the Cavs — and Harden in particular — from scoring.
And so a tremendous effort was just that: a tremendous effort.
Podziemski and Santos led the charge with comically similar lines: each player had 25 points, four assists, and two steals, while shooting 9-for-15 from the field and 5-for-6 on free throws. Green flirted with a triple double, finishing with eight points, nine rebounds, nine assists, and three blocks, while Gary Payton II came off the bench to grab 12 boards.
But it was the shooting that did them in, particularly from distance. The Warriors finished just 12-for-44 (27.3%) from deep, while the Cavs went 16-for-36 (44.4%). That was enough to make up for the difference in execution.
Golden State fell to 36-41, and needs to win their final five games to avoid their first losing season since they went 15-50 in the 2019-20 campaign. But there’s good news: they get two days off, and then host the Houston Rockets, with optimism that Steph Curry will return.