The physical play of James and other Cavaliers players, along with the loss of injured Golden State center Andrew Bogut left the Warriors unable to handle the Cleveland’s frontcourt who out-rebounded them 45-35.
“This team has been fighting all season, they’ve had to fight through adversity all season,” said the Cavs coach, Tyronn Lue.
The Cavaliers jumped out from the start of the game, buoyed by a roaring home crowd and the confidence picked up from winning Game 5 in Oakland on Monday night. Behind James and Irving and aided by shoddy shooting from the Warriors, Cleveland built leads of 18-7 and 22-9 in the first quarter before Andre Iguodala hit a jump shot to give Golden State 11 points at the end of the quarter.
Curry and Thompson started to hit their shots in the second quarter and the Warriors were able to scramble back into the game, cutting a Cavaliers lead that had been over 20 down to eight with 4:39 left in the first half. But Cleveland burst off a flurry of points to hold a 16-point lead at the half.
Riding Irving and James, the Cavs pushed the margin over 20 in the third quarter as the under-sized Golden State players were pounded on the boards. It seemed as if Cleveland would run away with the game until late in the quarter when the Warriors Klay Thompson hit a three-pointer and a lay-up to put the champions within nine going into the fourth.
This is when James took over for Cleveland. As Curry, Thompson and Iguodala kept hitting jump
shots, James kept the Warriors from going on the kind of big run that has carried them through so many times before. At one point in the fourth quarter he had scored the Cavs’ last 18 points. Then
when Golden State collapsed on him he twice passed off to Tristan Thompson for a pair of baskets that gave Cleveland a 99-86 lead with 4:43 left in the game.
Right after that, Curry tried to take the ball from James’s hands and was called for his sixth foul by Phillips, meaning he was out of the game. Curry ripped out his mouthpiece and hurled it across the court then approached Phillips complaining about the call. That’s when he was ejected and had to be led off the court by arena security.
It is likely that Curry will be fined rather than suspended for his actions but the Warriors coach defended his star’s actions. “Let me be clear: we did not lose because of the officiating. They totally outplayed us, and Cleveland deserved to win. But those three of the six fouls were incredibly inappropriate calls for anybody, much less the MVP of the league,” said Kerr.
Whatever the officiating is like on Sunday, the Warriors will need cooler heads to prevail if they are to win Game 7.
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