Love to Locker Room, Curry in Foul Trouble
The Latest on Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers (all times local):
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6:40 p.m.
A little drama is unfolding at Oracle Arena.
Cleveland's Kevin Love took himself out of the game early in the third
quarter and went to the locker room, and Golden State's Stephen Curry
just picked up his fourth foul with 8:42 left in the quarter.
Love was knocked woozy by an inadvertent elbow from Warriors forward
Harrison Barnes with just over five minutes to play in the second
quarter. Love lay on the court for several minutes, grabbing the back of
his head. Draymond Green scored over him, but after a timeout Love was
able to remain in the game.
Golden State has extended its lead to 69-53 in the third.
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6:15 p.m.
Down by six at one point in the second quarter, Golden State went on a
30-9 run and wound up taking a 52-44 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers
at halftime of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
The Cavaliers were down by 15 before scoring the final seven points of
the half — all after Stephen Curry picked up his third foul.
Draymond Green has 18 points and Curry has 12 for the Warriors. LeBron
James has been his usual spectacular self for the Cavaliers, with 14
points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals in the first half.
J.R. Smith and Kyrie Irving are shooting a combined 3 for 13 for the Cavs.
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5:55 p.m.
Draymond Green said he would be better from 3-point range in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
So far, so good.
Green has connected on three of his first four tries from beyond the
arc, with 18 points in the first 19 minutes of Sunday night's game. He's
helped stake the Warriors to a 42-30 lead, after they were down by six
early in the second quarter.
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5:40 p.m.
Not an offensive showcase so far in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, with Cleveland leading Golden State 21-19 after the first quarter.
Tristan Thompson has eight points so far for the Cavaliers, who won the
quarter despite shooting 32 percent. Golden State shot 39 percent, but
turned the ball over six times.
LeBron James missed all five of his shots in the quarter. Andrew Bogut
had four blocks in the game's first 7:20 for the Warriors.
And it's another slow start for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The
"Splash Brothers" had five points in the period, all from Curry — and
they shot a combined 2 for 7.
Curry did, perhaps surprisingly, grab a game-best six rebounds in the quarter.
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5:30 p.m.
Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry haven't got completely on track. But
Andrew Bogut has. The Warriors center walked off the court to a standing
ovation with his first rest of the quarter, and deservedly so.
Bogut blocked four shots in seven minutes, owning the paint in the early going for Golden State.
The Cavaliers are crashing the rim hard, but Bogut has been right there
to turn them back each time, including an emphatic swat of James and the
Warriors have an early lead.
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5:20 p.m.
LeBron James continues to add records to his playoff resume.
The King played in his 194th postseason game, passing Karl Malone and
Danny Ainge (193 each) for 10th place on the all-time list.
His first-quarter steal also moved James past John Stockton (338) at fourth place for career postseason steals.
But what's on James' mind right now is getting a win in Game 2.
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5:05 p.m.
The NBA held a moment of silence before Game 2 to pay homage to Muhammad
Ali, who died on Friday. A photo montage was played as well just before
the national anthem.
When the moment was finished, Cavs star LeBron James pointed his finger
toward the sky and then tapped his heart in tribute to "The Greatest."
There were other signs of respect throughout Oracle Arena.
Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill, analysts for NBATV during the series,
wore black t-shirts over their dress shirts with "GOAT" — Greatest Of
All Time — written across the chest during the pregame broadcast.
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4:25 p.m.
Stephen Curry has completed his pregame warmup routine before Sunday
night's Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and it ended without sinking one of
his heaves from the tunnel area.
Earlier in the series Curry said he hasn't kept track of how he or the
team does on nights where he hits one of his five tries from the tunnel
versus nights when he misses. Here's a hint: they usually win either
way.
"I don't know the study of what my win-loss percentage is based on if I
make it or not, but there is a little bit of me that's like, dang, I
missed it," Curry said before Game 1. He didn't shoot well in that game,
but the Warriors got the victory.
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3:50 p.m.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr expects Stephen Curry and Klay
Thompson to get back to their sharpshooting forms in Game 2. The Splash
Brothers combined for just 20 points in Golden State's Game 1 victory.
"They're great players," Kerr said. "They will probably shoot a lot better than Game 1, but you never know."
Kerr says the focus is not on shooting, but instead on defending and
taking care of the ball. As for the 8 for 27 combined showing by Curry
and Thompson, Kerr was asked if he liked the shots the backcourt took in
Game 1.
"Those guys are allowed to take any shot they want," the coach said.
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2:30 p.m.
Golden State can tie two NBA records Sunday night.
The Warriors enter Game 2 of the NBA Finals against Cleveland with 49
home wins and 86 wins overall this season, factoring in regular season
and playoffs.
That puts Golden State one shy of matching the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls'
full-season record of 87 wins. The Warriors toppled their regular-season
mark of 72 wins this year, going 73-9.
Also, Golden State could become the third team to win 50 home games.
That would match the record set by the 1985-86 and 1986-87 Boston
Celtics.
Having said that, Golden State could stand alone in one respect: The
Warriors would be the first team to win 50 games in one arena in a
season. Those Celtics teams that won 50 games at "home" played three
games in each of those seasons at Hartford, Connecticut, going 5-1 in
those contests.
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