Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors Match Player Stats On Jun 04, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 4, 2017

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry buried 3-pointers in a 13-point, five-possession flurry early in the fourth quarter Sunday night, and the Golden State Warriors pulled away from the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to a 132-113 victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Curry recorded his first career postseason triple-double with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, helping Golden State take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Finals shift to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.

Golden State's record-breaking 14th consecutive postseason win came in Steve Kerr's return to the Warriors' bench after he missed the previous 11 games while dealing the spinal-fluid issues.

LeBron James had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists in defeat, the eighth postseason triple-double of his career, equaling Magic Johnson's all-time record.

After watching the Warriors use a 13-2 run to help build a 102-88 lead by the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers retained hope when they held Golden State to just one field goal in the first 2:08 of the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer by Kyrie Irving kept the Cavaliers within 108-97 with 8:41 to go before Thompson, who shot 3-for-16 in Game 1, ignited the game-breaking run with a 3-pointer.

Thompson converted an inbounds play into a hoop and Durant scored on a drive. Durant and Curry then knocked down 3-pointers 23 seconds apart to balloon the lead to 121-99 and render most of the final 6:18 as garbage time.

Durant led the Warriors with 33 points, five blocks and 13 rebounds, and he hit four of his eight 3-point attempts.

Golden State shot 18-for-43 (41.9 percent) from 3-point range, outscoring the Cavaliers 54-24 from beyond the arc.

Curry and Thompson, who finished with 22 points, also connected on four 3-pointers apiece for Golden State, which shot 51.7 percent overall.

James' points came on 12-for-18 shooting for the Cavaliers, who shot 45 percent from the field but just 27.6 percent (8-for-29) from 3-point range.

Kevin Love had 27 points and Irving 19 on 8-for-23 shooting for Cleveland, which committed just nine turnovers one game after having given away 20 in the opener.

James hit 8 of 12 shots and had 18 points in the first half as the Cavaliers, down 50-38 at one point, hung within 67-64 at the break.

Golden State, which committed just four turnovers in Game 1, had eight in the first quarter alone but nonetheless managed to build as much as a 10-point advantage in the period. Curry had 15 points in the quarter, going 10-for-10 at the free throw line.

Ian Clark and Thompson made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to help the Warriors build the lead to 12 in the third minute of the second period. But James (eight), Love (six) and Irving (six) combined for 20 of Cleveland's final 26 points of the half, narrowing the gap to three by the intermission.

Durant and Curry had 15 points apiece for the Warriors in the half.

After trailing by just three at halftime, the Cavaliers were still down just 86-82 after a layup by Irving with 5:41 left in the third period.

But Cleveland then missed nine of its next 10 shots, and by the time Love converted an interior hoop with 54 seconds remaining in the period, the Warriors had built a 99-84 advantage.

Curry contributed two free throws and three assists to the 13-2 burst.

NOTES: Warriors coach Steve Kerr hadn't been on the bench since Game 2 of the Warriors' first-round sweep over the Portland Trail Blazers. He said before the game: "The intention is to coach tonight and the rest of the series." Even with the win, the Warriors have had a better record with substitutes Luke Walton and Mike Brown at the helm (50-4) than with Kerr coaching the team (119-29) since the start of the 2015-16 season. ... Golden State G Klay Thompson played in his 78th career playoff game, breaking a tie with SG Jeff Mullins for the most in Warriors franchise history. ... The Cavaliers wore their sleeved black jerseys for the first time since Games 5 and 7 of last year's Finals, a pair of games they won in Oakland. ... Before the game, the National Basketball Coaches Association presented its annual Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award to co-winners Al Attles, who led the Warriors to their first West Coast championship in 1975, and Hubie Brown, a Hall of Fame honoree in 2005.