OAKLAND, Calif.: To correct the Cavaliers’ landslide of mistakes in a disappointing opening to the NBA Finals, LeBron James summoned all his physical gifts Sunday night.
James drove to the basket frequently, cutting down the defending champions’ margin for error in Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors. Of his 18 field goal attempts, only three came from beyond the arc.
The only issue for the league’s four-time league MVP was an occasional mishandle on the dribble.
But despite James’ best efforts, the Warriors proved impermeable in Oracle Arena and claimed a 132-113 victory.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue devoted the bulk of his minutes to shooter-heavy rotations in an effort to keep up with the prolific Warriors’ attack. But the Warriors had too much firepower, getting 33 points from Kevin Durant, 32 from Stephen Curry and 22 from Klay Thompson.
James had his second triple-double of the 2017 postseason by the end of the third quarter, finishing with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists. Kevin Love contributed 27 points and seven rebounds. But the Cavs couldn’t keep pace with the Warriors, who shot 52 percent from the field, especially on a night when Kyrie Irving made only 8-of-23 shots.
The Cavs trail 0-2 as the series shifts to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 Wednesday and Friday at Quicken Loans Arena, where the Warriors celebrated their 2015 championship.
Lue was confident the Cavs would play better than Game 1, when they committed 20 turnovers, gave little effort on defense, were outscored 56-30 in the paint and 27-9 in fast break points.
Most of those issues were cleaned up in the first half, when the turnover bug instead bit the Warriors. The Warriors committed 13 in the first 24 minutes and the Cavs capitalized for 17 points. The Cavs, meanwhile lost seven, three of those by James, that led to nine Warriors points.
The Warriors, with coach Steve Kerr on the bench for the first time since the second game in the first round, rectified that problem in the second half, but still finished with 20, contributing to 23 Cavs points.
The Cavs trailed 67-64 at halftime, which seemed like a moral victory because Irving was 4-for-11 from the field at the break. They’d also gotten a needed infusion of scoring off the bench, their 19 points at the half nearly matching their 21 points for the night in Game 1.
But the bench was stifled in the second half, scoring four points before Lue lifted his starters.
Tristan Thompson didn’t do much to atone for his poor performance after going scoreless with four rebounds in Game 1. Thompson contributed eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes. He played just eight minutes in the first half as Lue gave Kyle Korver and Iman Shumpert more time. Channing Frye also made his first Finals appearance, but managed just two points and three rebounds.
Frye had a better night than J.R. Smith, who continued to be ineffective in the Finals. Smith, who had three points and no rebounds in 28 minutes in Game 1, went to the bench with four fouls with 9:49 left in the third quarter. Smith went scoreless with two rebounds in 14 minutes.
Durant also found his wide-open lane to the basket for slams and dunks closed, but was effective nonetheless. One stretch in the first quarter showed Durant at his finest. He blocked an Irving shot, hit a 3-pointer, then came up with a steal off James in a span of 28 seconds.
Durant hit 13-of-22 field goals, 4-of-8 3s, with 13 rebounds and six assists.
“I knew he was a special talent before we got him,” Klay Thompson said of Durant Saturday. “It does surprise me, though, how effortless it looks for him. He makes it look really easy, and the stuff he does is incredibly hard. It helps when you’re the freak athlete he is, but he makes it look easier than most would.”
Also spelling trouble for the Cavs was the fact that Klay Thompson may have found his shooting touch. After hitting just 3-of-16 shots in Game 1 and 6-of-29 in the previous two games against the Cavs and Spurs, Thompson made 8-of-12 field goals, 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Going into Sunday, since 2010 the Game 1 Finals loser had gone 6-1 in the next game, according to ESPN Stats and Information, and four Game 1 losers had gone on to win the championship in that span.
But the Cavs should get a boost at home. They have won 14 of their last 16 playoff games at Quicken Loans Arena, including going 5-1 this season. The Warriors are 6-0 on the road in the playoffs in 2017 and 17-9 over the past three seasons.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.