The most anticipated regular season game on the NBA slate lived up to the hype on Christmas Day in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers defended their home court 109-108, and as much as both teams will downplay the result, this game mattered.
Kyrie Irving hit the game winning shot with 3.4 seconds left, a gorgeous hanging fadeaway-turnaround, right in Klay Thompson’s face. Kevin Durant was pushed by Richard Jefferson on the last shot attempt and stumbled to the floor as the buzzer sounded.
With 11.1 seconds left and 108-17 lead, the Warriors were hit with a shot clock violation — an inexcusable offense with the game on the line.
The Cavaliers took a 105-103 lead on one of the more thunderous dunks of LeBron James’ career. The Warriors responded with a Draymond Green dunk, a Klay Thompson blocked shot on Irving that bounced off the backboard and a subsequent Steph Curry three in transition. Golden State led 108-107 — and they led almost the entire game. But that didn’t matter in the end.
Early on, it quickly became the KD vs. LeBron show. Durant was attacking at will, almost playing with an attitude. He had a poster dunk on Kevin Love in the first half and finished with 36 points on 11/23 shooting. James was unbelievable in the third quarter, scoring 16 points while continually trimming the lead. He finished with 31 points on 12/22 shooting.
The Warriors led by 7 entering the fourth quarter and Durant immediately led an additional 7-0 run to start the quarter. A 14 point lead evaporated five minutes later, when Kyrie Irving put the Cavs on his back. Irving finished with 25 points and another unbelievably clutch shot to beat the Warriors.
David West was the surprise side piece that elevated his game on Christmas Day. With Zaza Pachulia struggling and Green in foul trouble, West was crafty with the basketball — 5 assists — and a physical presence down low. He finished with 5 points and 3 rebounds.
Curry took a back seat to Durant (15 points on 2/7 from downtown), but Thompson didn’t. The one trickle-down effect from Durant has been an array of open looks for Thompson, who finished with 24 points.
The refs were whistle happy on both sides. Green had three fouls in the first three minutes of the game — the latter a technical. Richard Jefferson was whistled for a technical when he winked at Durant after a dunk in the fourth quarter. There were 61 combined free throw shots. Let’s hope the Finals rematch is not officiated this way.
The intensity started from the opening tip and never relented. Durant was soaring through the air on dunk attempts and led the Warriors with 17 first half points and 8 rebounds; Kevin Love led the way with 14. The Cavaliers were outworking the Warriors on the glass, though, securing 13 offensive rebounds compared to Golden State’s 4.
This was the game of the year, and let’s hope we’ll get seven more of these come June.