The Cleveland Cavaliers(20-35) had a full roster on Thursday night against the Warriors(28-28), and things started well for this team. Cleveland led by as much as 11 points in the first quarter and had a 31-26 lead after one. However, Golden State outscored the Cavs by 14 in the second quarter and took control of the game from there.
Golden State led by as much as 18 points in the second quarter and by as much as 15 points in the third quarter. Cleveland got the lead down to four in the third, but it wasn’t enough as they would fall to the Warriors 119-101 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Steph Curry had 20 of his 33 points in the second half, and Andrew Wiggins added 23 points. For Cleveland, Collin Sexton, who returned after missing two games due to a groin injury, had 30, and Darius Garland poured in 20 points.
Cleveland played unselfish basketball in the first quarter and had nine assists on 13 made field goals, but they had only 12 assists over the final three quarters.
After the game, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff discussed the lack of ball movement.
“The focus has to be on the ball movement,” he said. “That ball can’t get “sticky.” We gotta continue to move the ball; we gotta continue to cut, let our big guys play make… But we just can’t get stagnant; that’s where we gotta continue to improve.”
Despite the loss, Sexton is confident Cleveland can make a push for the playoffs.
“We’re going to be fine,” he said. “This last stretch, I feel like we can make a push. We gotta take it one day at a time.”
Cleveland now has five of their next six on the road, which starts Saturday night in a big game against the 10th-seeded Bulls, who the Cavs must catch to make it in the play-in tournament. Cleveland is currently 2.5 games behind Chicago.
According to reports, Chicago will be without their leading scorer Zach LaVibe(health and safety protocols), which gives Cleveland an advantage going into this contest.
The time is now to make that playoff push, and we’ll see if the Cavs can seize the moment.
