Category: Golden State Warriors Blog

Draymond Green, Matthew Dellavedova tussle in NBA Finals Game 5

In case you haven’t heard, both Draymond Green and Matthew Dellavedova are aggressive on the court. And when aggressive meets aggressive, things are going to get interesting. Here’s CSN Bay Area reporting:

Draymond Green hopped off the floor hoping to hear a whistle but really wanting a piece of Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova.

Yes, Delly once again found himself in the middle of a play that might easily be construed as “dirty.”

This one occurred with 5:55 left in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals Sunday night at Oracle Arena. As both players hustled toward the rim for a possible rebound, Dellavedova, while tumbling to the floor, subtly used his left arm to hook Green’s right arm, resulting in Green also going down, on top of Dellavedova.

It was a splendid wrestling move sneakily executed on the basketball court. Green wanted a foul on Dellavedova but officials instead ruled a double foul, one being assessed to each player.

Fatigue playing role in NBA Finals

Here’s the News Herald reporting on the 2015 NBA Finals, where the Warriors and Cavaliers bringa 2-2 tied series to Oakland Sunday night:

It’s just human nature.

The Cavaliers have a shortened rotation, are playing heavy minutes and have experienced some bumps and bruises. Fatigue — mental and physical — is obviously a factor in the NBA Finals.

The Cavaliers scored the first seven points of Game 4. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was forced to call time out with 9:43 remaining in the first quarter.

As the players came toward the bench, Kerr told them, “Don’t worry. They are playing seven players in their rotation for 48 minutes. That will wear them down.”

The Warriors ended up blowing out the Cavaliers, 103-82, to knot the series at 2-2. The series shifts to Oakland, Calif., for Game 5 on June 14 at Oracle Arena.

On Thursday, June 11, the Warriors beat the Cavs 103-82 to tie the 2015 NBA Finals 2-2. Here are video highlights of the best plays, key players, with mini-movie and more:

Warriors beat Cavs 103-82, tie NBA Finals 2-2

Thursday night in Cleveland, the Warriors benched center Andrew Bogut, added Andre Iguodala to the starting lineup, and beat the Cavs 103-82. The NBA Finals are now tied 2-2, with Game 5 Sunday at Golden State. Here are some quotes from around the web:

The AP reports: Stephen Curry shook off Iman Shumpert with a dribble, stepped back behind the line and splashed a 3-pointer that seemed to submerge a mute button on rocking and rolling Quicken Loans Arena. Curry clenched both fists, slapped his chest and yelled, ”C’mon!”

At last, this was the MVP and these were the Golden State Warriors – so deep, so deadly.

Curry and Andre Iguodala scored 22 points apiece and the Warriors, showing why they were the league’s best team all season, squared the NBA Finals at 2-2 on Thursday night with a 103-82 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The AP reports: LeBron James scored 20 points – 21 under his average in the series – with 12 rebounds and eight assists, but Cleveland’s megastar, who needed stitches to close a cut on his head sustained when banged it into a camera in the first half, didn’t score in the fourth quarter and couldn’t do enough for the undermanned Cavaliers.

The AP reports: Timofey Mozgov led Cleveland with 28 points and guard Matthew Dellavedova, again battling leg cramps after a hospital stay for dehydration, had 10. The Cavs shot just 2 of 18 from the field and were outscored 27-12 in the fourth quarter. They also got nothing from their bench as J.R. Smith missed all eight 3-point attempts and Cleveland’s reserves combined to score seven points.

AFP reports: Iguodala had nine points in the first quarter and hit 8-of-15 shots for the game, including 4-of-9 3-point tries.

That even had four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James impressed.

“He’s one of the X-factors and he came to play,” James said. “He shot the ball extremely well. He was in attack. He got a couple of dunks in transition early on which got him going and he was really good. To start him gave them that boost.”

AFP reports: James suffered two cuts to the right side of his head on a camera after falling into a photographer late in the second quarter, writhing in pain on the floor at the feet of fans while grabbing his head. He also battled leg cramps and fatigue in the second half.

Reuters reports: “I had a slight headache, which I think every one of you guy would probably have if you ran into a camera,” James told reporters when asked about the incident. “But I didn’t go through any protocol. I’m fine. Like I said, I got a few stitches and I got a slight headache right now but I’ll be fine with that.”

Reuters reports: Iguodala had averaged 12.3 points off the bench over the first three games of the series but dug deep when it mattered most, given that none of the 32 teams who have fallen behind 3-1 in the NBA Finals have come back to win the series. Known more for his defense, Iguodala coolly drained four three-pointers en route to a season-high 22 points in 39 minutes for the top-seeded Warriors.

Tuesday night in Cleveland, the Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors 96-91 to take a 2-1 NBA Finals lead. In the win, LeBron James finished with a ridiculous 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and four steals. Here’s the NBA Finals game 3 “mini-movie” summarizing what went down:

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have taken a 2-1 NBA Finals lead vs the Golden State Warriors. Here’s CSN Bay Area reporting on last night’s Game 3 in Cleveland:

Unlike Game 2, this game could not be hung on Stephen Curry but on the support staff. Unlike Game 2, this wasn’t a triumph of the Cleveland defense because it gave up 36 points in the fourth quarter of a game it had seemingly salted away.

But exactly like Game 2, James made the game revolve around him – this time, going 14-for-34 with 12 rebounds and eight assists in 46 minutes. Exactly like Game 2, the Cavs seemingly got the game by the thorax only to let it wriggle away in a desperate fourth quarter. Exactly like Game 2, the Warriors could not elevate their 3-point game from liability to weapon.

And exactly like Game 2, it did not occur to the Warriors that desperation was called for until it ended up being too late again. Not by a lot, but by enough.

“We’ve had times throughout season where we were out of sync and just gutted it out,” Andre Iguodala said, trying to softpedal the problem. “We just haven’t been able to find our own rhythm yet. It’s weird but not weird that we’ve started slow but gotten into our flow eventually. I think they’re a great team, very underrated, and they’re just taking it to us right now.”