Warriors bounce back strong to drub Cavs, level series 2-2

MANILA, Philippines – Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala combined for 44 points and the Golden State Warriors came back strong with a 103-82 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals on Friday, June 12 (Thursday, June 11 in the US) at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Iguodala, who started for the first time this season in lieu of Andrew Bogut, sparked the Warriors with 9 first quarter points and went on to finish with 22 on 4-of-9 three-pointers along with 8 rebounds.

Curry scattered 22 points as well on 4 for 7 shooting from downtown and 6 assists. 

The 67-win Golden State averted a 3-1 disaster and found some answers to Cleveland’s defense to tie the series up once more at 2-2 heading back home to the Oracle for Game 5.

Big man Timofey Mozgov posted a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers, while LeBron James finished with 20 markers, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. James averaged 41 points in the first 3 Finals games. 

James stayed in the game despite sustaining cuts on his head after crashing into a sideline cameraman at the 4:43 mark of the second.

For the first two minutes of the game, it looked like Golden State was in for another long night as Cleveland raced to a 7-0 lead. But Klay Thompson, who finished with just 9 points in a quiet showing, hit a running bank shot to shove the Warriors ahead, 22-20, for the first time since Game 2. 

The Warriors continued to control the pace from then on, double-teaming James, to lead by a comfortable 54-42 by halftime. 

Cleveland sliced the deficit to 70-73 on a split by James from the line with 32 ticks left in the third, but Golden Sate went on a 12-2 run bridging the last two periods capped off by a Curry trey to re-establish an 85-72 advantage in the fourth.

The Cavaliers never threatened after that and coasted to the blowout victory on the road.

Draymond Green contributed 17 points , 7 rebounds and 6 assists and Harrison Barnes had 14 points and 8 boards as the Warriors managed to carry over to Game 4 the only silver lining to their deflating Game 3 defeat – endgame momentum. 

Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova picked up the rear for Cleveland with 12 and 10 points, respectively. – Rappler.com