If the Warriors were due for a stinker, the bill arrived in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers, the lone remaining undefeated team in the league, completely dominated Golden State, who never led in the contest. Former Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson’s group started 13-for-17 from 3 and built a commanding 40-point cushion in the first half.
Already having cemented a successful road trip with a win at the defending champion Boston Celtics’ place, the Warriors (7-2) didn’t come close to extending their five-game winning streak in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers scored a franchise-record 83 points in the first half en route to a 136-117 victory — their 10th consecutive victory to begin the season. Their starters, led by Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, outscored those of the Warriors 91-40.
“There’s going to be games in the 82 where things don’t go your way and you have to show where you are,” Steve Kerr told reporters postgame, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “I was impressed with the guys’ energy and the way they kept playing (in the second half). And that’s important to establish.”
With everyone available at their disposal, the Warriors started Steph Curry, Gary Payton II, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis. But from the start, the Cavaliers took control.
Garland, fully healthy after spending much of last year battling a broken jaw, carved up the Golden State defense that entered the game ranked second in efficiency. Cleveland ripped off a 17-0 run across five minutes and hit seven of 10 3-pointers en route to a 39-22 opening period.
Kerr played 10 Warriors in the first quarter, leaving Moses Moody and Kyle Anderson on the bench. Anderson started the second quarter and Moody joined him shortly thereafter as Kerr continued to use a deep 12-man rotation.
The Cavaliers handled Golden State’s traps on high ball screens much better than other teams have, finding release valves and then open shooters. A pair of corner 3s from Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade helped prevent the Warriors’ bench from turning the game like it has all season.
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A Donovan Mitchell step-back 3 over Brandin Podziemski capped a 16-2 Cleveland run, and the Cavs soon pushed their lead to a game-high 34. Right after Steph Curry air-balled a 3 — a tell-tale sign it wasn’t Golden State’s night — former Warrior Ty Jerome sank Cleveland’s 13th trey (of 17). At that point, eight different Cavaliers had already hit at least one triple.
Before Friday night, the Warriors ranked first in 3-point defense, holding opponents to 29.5% from behind the arc. As much as their personnel is more equipped to lock up and as much of a difference as new assistant Jerry Stackhouse has made, they were due for some regression.
It came in a tsunami in Cleveland.
Even when the Cavaliers’ jump shots started to dry up, they found ways to dominate in other ways. Jarrett Allen controlled the boards and their defense forced 12 Warriors turnovers in the first half.
Draymond Green threw the type of ill-advised turnover — trying to launch a hit-ahead pass — Kerr has been harping on, and then committed a frustration foul for his fourth of the game. Before the end of the first half, Golden State trailed by 41 and had their best defender in serious foul trouble.
Some of Cleveland’s intensity waned, as it tends to do with a 40-point lead, in the second half. Even though the Warriors capitalized by turning the game into more of a fast-paced affair, they hardly made up ground.
Jonathan Kuminga was the Warriors’ only consistently productive scorer, and he didn’t check back in until halfway through the third quarter. He finished with a team-high 21 points, six rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes.
Kuminga, De’Anthony Melton — in his first game back from a mild back injury — and the Warriors’ bench cut the deficit to 18, but Curry and Green never returned. The reserves were playing so much better than Golden State’s starters, it made more sense to ride with them.
For most of this season, the Warriors have been able to use their depth to ease the workloads of their stars, smoothing out the distribution of minutes across the roster. Against the Cavaliers, they didn’t have to play their veterans too many minutes for the wrong reason.
