If someone told you before the game that LeBron James would finish this game with a statline of 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, there would be almost no way you would think the Cleveland Cavaliers would lose, right?
Well that’s exactly what happened as the Cavaliers failed to go into Oracle Arena and defeat the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs now take a 3-2 series lead in the NBA Finals, one win away from a title. Stephen Curry dropped 37 points of his own with 7 rebounds and 4 assists to do his best to answer LeBron’s fantastic game.
The starting lineups were once again the same from Game 4 for both sides as the Warriors went small with their lineup and the Cavs stayed traditional, keeping their guys they’ve gone with for a majority of the series as starters. The game quickly got out to a fast pace, right up the Warriors alley and they took an early lead. Cavs coach David Blatt had to make an immediate change to answer it.
Timofey Mozgov was ripped out of the lineup and for just about the rest of the game, it turned into an old-school pickup game with all guards and smaller forwards on the floor. Mozgov, Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli, the 3 guys with any serious size for both teams, combined to play only play 12 minutes including Andrew Bogut who never got off the bench.
J.R. Smith got it going early for the Cavs as he hit his first shot of the game and kept it rolling for a majority of the first half. He dropped 14 points in the game but his night all but ended after the second quarter as he missed all of his attempts from the field and only shot 5-15 on the night, going 4-14 from 3. LeBron was at his peak form from the opening tip and by time halftime rolled around he put up 20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, the only player to do so since 2003 in any game. The Warriors led 51-50 at the end of the first half.
The second half for the Cavs was the LeBron James and Tristan Thompson show as they did it all for Cleveland, scoring 35 of their 41 second half points. As they were leading the charge for the Cavs in the second half, Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala came up big for the Warriors on more than one occasion.
While Iguodala made a big play in the first half when he dished a sick assist behind his back to find David Lee for a slam, it was his second half defensive effort on LeBron James, primarily in the fourth quarter, that showed Iggy’s worth to this team. Harrison Barnes also had a big play when he threw down a big dunk on the Cavs defense and Timofey Mozgov but Stephen Curry might have been the player who had the signature moment of these NBA Finals.
Stephen Curry’s night was highlighted by a pair of big crossover step-back 3’s on the supposed ‘Curry stopper‘, Matthew Dellavedova, that made the crowd go nuts. Curry scored 17 points in the fourth including 3 three-pointers. Steph and the Warriors might not see Oracle Arena again this season as they have the opportunity to close out the NBA Finals in game 6 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Tristan Thompson put up 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavs and Iman Shumpert scored 10 points with 5 rebounds. For the Warriors, Andre Iguodala scored 14 points with 8 rebounds and 7 assists while Draymond Green dropped 16 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and handed out 6 assists. Leandro Barbosa came off the bench to score 13 points and Klay Thompson struggled again, only scoring 12 points on 5-14 shooting.
