Balanced Cavs earn first sweep of Warriors since 2010

Caris LeVert came off the bench to lead a balanced attack with 22 points, Dean Wade buried a pair of key three-pointers to open the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a season-series sweep over the Golden State Warriors with a 118-110 victory Saturday night, November 11 (Sunday, November 12, Manila time) in San Francisco.

Donovan Mitchell (21 points), Darius Garland (19), and Evan Mobley (19) led all five starters in double figures for the Cavaliers, who had lost 12 straight regular-season games to the Warriors before a 115-104 home win last Sunday.

The sweep was Cleveland’s first over Golden State since 2010.

Stephen Curry led all scorers with 30 points but shot just 4-for-14 on three-pointers. The Warriors went 13-for-38 (34.2%) from beyond the arc.

Klay Thompson had 14 points, Andrew Wiggins 13, and Kuminga 12 off the bench for Golden State, which was playing just its third home game. Kevon Looney was the game’s leading rebounder with 13.

The Warriors played the final 18:23 without Draymond Green, who was ejected after getting nailed with a flagrant foul on Mitchell that gave him two technicals.

The ejection came after Mitchell had chased down Green and shoved him while the ball was in play, prompting the referees to review an incident under the Cleveland basket on the previous possession, where they detected Green’s initial run-in with Mitchell and retroactively assessed Golden State’s emotional leader with his game-ending flagrant foul.

After blowing a 17-point lead, the Cavaliers regained an 84-83 advantage after three quarters when LeVert tipped in a Mitchell miss just before the final horn.

Wade, who had only 8 points before fouling out, then bombed in consecutive three-pointers in the opening 56 seconds of the final period, allowing the Cavaliers to begin to pull away.

Golden State got within four one last time on a three-point play by Jonathan Kuminga with 8:19 to play, but Max Strus had a dunk and Mobley and LeVert two free throws apiece in a six-point spurt that opened a 100-90 advantage.

Strus chipped in 16 points and Jarrett Allen 12 for the Cavaliers, who outscored the Warriors, 33-23, on free throws in a game that had 53 fouls and 73 foul shots. – Rappler.com