Cavaliers thrash Warriors to force winner-take-all Game 7 in NBA finals
By late Thursday night, James had perhaps reestablished himself as the league's best player. He scored 41 points, and had eight rebounds and 11 assists as he carried Cleveland to a 115-101 Game 6 victory. The finals have now been pushed to a Game 7 that few saw coming. The Warriors are now on the verge of going from an almost certain second straight title to an epic collapse.
Never was their frustration more evident than in Curry, whose 30 points were overshadowed by several misguided attempts to steal balls from Cleveland players, eventually causing him to foul out late in the fourth quarter. When he uncharacteristically blew up over the last call he was ejected by referee Jason Phillips. Curry's wife, Ayesha claimed on Twitter the game had been fixed, beforelater apologizing and taking back her comments.
Instead of dying quietly, James and the Cavs can now create history by becoming the first team to come back from down 3-1 in the finals to win a title, the first Cavaliers team to get a championship and the first Cleveland sports team to win a title in 52 years. A Cavs Game 7 win would be a severe blow to the Warriors, who set a NBA record with 73 regular-season wins in 2015-16.
"By being aggressive," James said after the game when asked how the Cavs were able to win their second straight elimination game. "I've got great team-mates and a great coaching staff that put me in a position to be successful."
James seems to have taken the criticism of his leadership and play personally in the last week. As Kevin Love and other supporting players have disappeared, James has delivered back-to-back games with more than 40 points. Kyrie Irving had 26 for the Cavs, who did not have another player with more than 20 points in Game 6.
The physical play of James and other Cavaliers players, along with the loss of injured Golden State center Andrew Bogut left the Warriors unable to handle the Cleveland's frontcourt who out-rebounded them 45-35.
"This team has been fighting all season, they've had to fight through adversity all season," said the Cavs coach, Tyronn Lue.
The Cavaliers jumped out from the start of the game, buoyed by a roaring home crowd and the confidence picked up from winning Game 5 in Oakland on Monday night. Behind James and Irving and aided by shoddy shooting from the Warriors, Cleveland built leads of 18-7 and 22-9 in the first quarter before Andre Iguodala hit a jump shot to give Golden State 11 points at the end of the quarter.
Curry and Thompson started to hit their shots in the second quarter and the Warriors were able to scramble back into the game, cutting a Cavaliers lead that had been over 20 down to eight with 4:39 left in the first half. But Cleveland burst off a flurry of points to hold a 16-point lead at the half.
Riding Irving and James, the Cavs pushed the margin over 20 in the third quarter as the under-sized Golden State players were pounded on the boards. It seemed as if Cleveland would run away with the game until late in the quarter when the Warriors Klay Thompson hit a three-pointer and a lay-up to put the champions within nine going into the fourth.
This is when James took over for Cleveland. As Curry, Thompson and Iguodala kept hitting jump shots, James kept the Warriors from going on the kind of big run that has carried them through so many times before. At one point in the fourth quarter he had scored the Cavs' last 18 points. Then when Golden State collapsed on him he twice passed off to Tristan Thompson for a pair of baskets that gave Cleveland a 99-86 lead with 4:43 left in the game.
Right after that, Curry tried to take the ball from James's hands and was called for his sixth foul by Phillips, meaning he was out of the game. Curry ripped out his mouthpiece and hurled it across the court then approached Phillips complaining about the call. That's when he was ejected and had to be led off the court by arena security.
"This is the MVP of the league who was foul out for these touch fouls," said the Warriors coach, Steve Kerr, who called three of the foul calls "inappropriate".
Source: The Guardian.com
