Warriors take 2-0 lead in NBA Finals

OAKLAND - There are moments in a game where it’s clear the momentum has shifted. Or times when you know you’ve just driven the final dagger into your opponent.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson created those moments for the Golden State Warriors Sunday night. And with their 132-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals series.

The series heads to Cleveland for Games 4 and 5 Wednesday and Friday, where the Cavs will have a hearty home crowd behind them in an effort to stave off a sweep.

Talk of a sweep, though, is clearly premature, as evidenced by last year’s finals.

In 2016, Golden State also took a 2-0 series lead, and even pushed it to 3-1, one game away from winning the championship. But LeBron James and the Cavaliers powered back and grabbed their own momentum to win the title in seven games.

On Sunday at Oracle Arena, the Warriors started out with a burst of good news after the pregame announcement that head coach Steve Kerr was returning to the sidelines after being out for several weeks with health problems related to back surgery.

Kerr said he knew that after the Warriors dominated the Cavaliers in Game 1, the defending champions would make some adjustments and protect the ball better than they did when they committed 20 turnovers Thursday.

They did - and James showed why he is considered among the best basketball players in history, leading the Cavs with 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.

James drove the lane with authority in the first quarter, scoring 10 in the opening period, but momentum swayed to both sides as the Cavs held a 6-point lead early before the Warriors worked it to their own 10-point margin.

Golden State got a little careless in the second quarter, allowing five turnovers - three by Curry - while letting their biggest lead to that point (12 points), 47-35, dwindle to 61-60 with 1:41 left in the half.

Cleveland scored 18 points in the paint that quarter, including several nearly uncontested drives by James.

Curry’s momentum-shifting moment came after the half.

First, he said, Kerr got on his case during halftime about his negative body language.

“The turnovers kind of got underneath my skin a little bit and I was letting it affect … my mannerisms too much,” he said, saying Kerr reminded him to play with passion and joy.

Three minutes into the third quarter, Curry brought the crowd alive with a one-on-one drive against James that had observers watching the replay on their phones a few minutes later to see if that really happened.

Curry, defended by James, dribbled to the right post, where James might have gotten a hand on the ball. Curry turned and dribbled back to the three-point line for a look from distance, but found nothing but James.

Turning, he gave a small fake to put James off balance, then dribbled left past King James and into the lane for a layup - James slapping backboard glass as the ball fell through.

Here’s how Curry described it:

“I was rushing to begin with because I felt like there was an angle here, an angle there, and there wasn’t because (there was) a huge crowd around on that right side of the floor,” he said. “And then I was able to kind of reset back behind the three-point line, and you kind of just give a little hesitation that you’re make them think you’re going to shoot and just try to go around him.

“And at that point I was a little bit more composed than earlier in that possession. I was just kind of like a chicken with my head cut off, just running circles.”

The shot put Golden State up 83-73 and Curry knew it was huge.

“That was kind of a microcosm of the game, we were rushing a lot. In those situations, you try to keep it simple and just make a play,” he said.

Curry also finished with a triple-double: 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, outshining Kevin Durant’s 33 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five blocks.

Thompson’s defining moment was more of a cumulative one Sunday. His shooting touch has been off much of the playoffs, though he’s made an impact defensively.

With just over 8 minutes left in the game, Thompson netted a 3-point jumper after screening James to help get Durant open. It put the Warriors up by 14.

A minute later, Thompson cut inside for a layup to put Golden State ahead 113-97.

The crowd was with Thompson all game, pulling for him to rid himself of his slump. They groaned when he missed and roared with enthusiasm when he scored, sending their support to him through the ether.

Thompson said he felt confident his shots would begin to fall.

“I feel like that every night,” he said. “As a shooter, you have to. You have no choice but to. … Tonight I was just in a good rhythm. It started with getting to the basket early and taking good shots. If I do that, it’ll all even out.”

Thompson finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-7 from three-point range.

Curry said it was nice to see his fellow Splash Brother see some shots fall, but he wasn’t concerned.

“He does so much for us on the defensive end, his presence just on the floor as a threat to shoot even if he doesn’t get an attempt up,” he said.

“I know he didn’t lose confidence in himself, at all, and knew he was helping us win even though he wasn’t shooting the ball well. And tonight things turned around and in his favor, and hopefully he’s created a little bit of momentum for himself going into Game 3.”

NOTES

While the series moves to Cleveland, Warriors fans who want to watch Games 3 and 4 in Oracle Arena are in luck.

Official watch parties will be held for the two away games, with tickets going on sale at 1 p.m. today to the general public. (A season-ticket holder presale begins at 10 a.m.)

Tickets are $20, available at www.warriors.com. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the AEG Oakland Community Foundation and the Warriors Community Foundation.

The Game 2 win ran the Warriors’ playoff record this year to an NBA playoff record 14-0 eclipsing the 13 by the Lakers over the 1988 and 1989 playoffs and Cleveland over the 2016 and 2017.

The Warriors held the Cavs to 8-for-29 from three-point land, snapping a Cleveland streak of 10 or more 3-point makes in 10 consecutive playoff games, the longest single-season streak in NBA history.

Cavs’ LeBron James (29 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds) recorded his 18th career playoff triple-double and his second this year.

Stephen Curry’s 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds marks his first career playoff triple-double.

It was the first time in NBA Finals history in which two players recorded a triple-double in the same game, and only the second time in overall NBA playoff history.