Warriors Don’t Play Nice in loss to Cavs
One day after they were passing the cranberry sauce at a team dinner, the Warriors appeared to have forgotten how to share. Their 112-97 loss Friday to the Cleveland Cavaliers is perhaps best explained by a season-low 13 assists.
“I have no clue what’s going on,” Stephen Jackson said. “We weren’t passing the ball. When we share the ball, good things happen. When everybody’s out there for self, we ain’t going to win like that.”
Jackson added: “When we have success, we share the ball, we pass to the open man. We have everybody looking for the open man. We weren’t doing that tonight.”
As a result of this one-on-one approach, Golden State shot just 39.8 percent from the field and no one got into a rhythm. Jackson scored 11 points on 2-of-11 shooting. Corey Maggette was 3 of 11 for 11 points. Kelenna Azubuike was 3 of 8 for eight points.
The Warriors’ performance was so inept that new guard Jamal Crawford’s line —15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, with six assists and five turnovers — didn’t look so bad. Backup point guard C.J. Watson, hitting on 6 of 7 shots and scoring 17 points, was positively Jordanesque.
Selfish play and lousy shooting is no way to go about facing the excellent Cavaliers, who were led by LeBron James’ 23 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three steals. The Warriors trailed by 26 after three quarters, prompting Coach Don Nelson to pull his starters.
James, Ilgauskas lead Cleveland past Golden State
James scored 23 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added a season-high 21, and the Cavaliers matched their best home start in franchise history with a 112-97 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.
Cleveland (13-3) has won 12 of 13 and is a league-best 9-0 at home, equaling its top home start, first set in 1976-77 and repeated in 1991-92.
“They have everything they need in that starting lineup and they’re starting to put all the pieces together,” Golden State guard Stephen Jackson said after the Warriors became the victim of another Cavaliers’ blowout.
The Cavaliers have won four straight by an average of 20 points, allowing coach Mike Brown to rest James, who has averaged 26 minutes in Cleveland’s last three.
James, the league’s leading scorer with a 27.5 average, was removed from the game at the end of the third quarter, playing 31 minutes. He was 9-of-13 from the floor, had seven rebounds and eight assists.
James matched a career low in minutes played with 17 and had a season-low 14 points in Cleveland’s 117-82 win over Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.
“We’re playing great basketball right now,” James said. “We’re flowing the same way every game. We have the confidence flowing.”
The Warriors (5-11) have lost five straight, including the first four on their current road trip. Golden State is 2-7 away from home and ends its trip in New York on Saturday night.
“We aren’t passing the ball,” Jackson said. “When you share the ball, good things happen. When everybody is out there for (themselves), you don’t win like that.”
Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson each scored 16 points for Cleveland.