SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors’ 118-110 loss to the Cavaliers at home on Saturday night followed a similar pattern to their game in Cleveland last week.
Steph Curry’s 30 points represented the Warriors’ only significant counter to Cleveland’s size and defense. The Warriors lost their second straight and fell to 6-4, 1-2 at home.
The Cavaliers dominated the paint on both ends of the floor, outscoring the Warriors 50-34, and ran all over Golden State in transition, scoring 32 points off the Warriors’ 20 turnovers.
Outside of Curry, no other Warrior had the offensive juice to keep pace. Jonathan Kuminga’s 12 points, Andrew Wiggins’ 13 points, and Klay Thompson’s 14 were indicative of an offense unable to generate clean looks against a long and athletic Cavs frontcourt with Evan Mobely and Jarrett Allen.
The Cavaliers beat Golden State 115-114 on Nov. 5 in Cleveland, with the Warriors getting outrebounded in that game 54-44.
Draymond Green was called for a second technical foul and ejected mid-way through the third quarter, changing the tenor of the second half. Green and Donovan Mitchell got into an altercation when Mitchell pushed Green as he was taking the ball up court. Upon review, referees went back and found Green earned a technical foul for pushing off Mitchell after stripping the ball from him.
The Warriors play a pair of two-game series starting off with two against the Minnesota Timberwolves with Sunday’s group-round In-Season Tournament game. Then they play two against the Oklahoma City Thunder before welcoming the Houston Rockets to town.