Durant Leads Warriors to Cleveland Victory

The Golden State Warriors continued towards the NBA finals with a 118 – 108 road win in Cleveland on Monday night. The reigning champions beat their potential final opponents in the 4th quarter after the Cavaliers matched them throughout the game.

The warriors were lead by Kevin Durant on 32 points. He also made 8 assists and 9 rebounds. Stephen Curry scored 23 points. Draymond Green added 11 points with 16 rebounds and 9 assists.

LeBron James led Cleveland with 32 points. However, he ended the match with a season-high 8 turnovers. James is a Cleveland MVP in need of assistance. He is 42 points away from scoring his 30,000th point, though he is playing in a struggling Cavs team.

Isaiah Thomas returned to face Golden State for the first time since joining Cleveland. He scored 19 points while shooting 8-of-21.

The Warriors finished the game with 33 assists. Since steve Kerr took over in 2014, Golden State has played 140 30-assist games. The closest team to matching this in the same period are the Atlanta hawks, with 49.

After pulling away late in the game, Durant praised his teammates (Via Yahoo):

“That unit, they won us the game with their energy and their effort. They pushed the basketball and they set us up well to kind of end the game in the last three or four minutes. That’s what a well-rounded team does.”

It was Golden State’s 6th win in a row over their potential opponents in the 2018 NBA Championship Final.

NBA Futures

The Warriors have now won 13 consecutive road games and are 36 – 9 for the season. 26 – 17 Cleveland haven lost 4 in a row and 8 of their last 10 matches.

This fixture has been the final matchup for each of the last three years. A 4th Cavs-Warriors final is no guarantee, but on Monday’s evidence, there will only be one winner of that match.