The final game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday night featured the final two teams left standing in the 2014-15 NBA season – kind of.
Actually, the only Cavalier from last year’s Eastern Conference-winning team on this year’s Summer League squad is sophomore swingman Joe Harris – who finished with six points on the night. The Cavs got their best production off the bench on Friday, but the Warriors still managed to weather their late rally and hand the Wine and Gold an 83-75 loss in their Vegas opener.
Haws buckets 12 points.
Snapshots from Game 1.
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The Warriors capitalized on 16 Cavalier turnovers, running out to a two-touchdown lead after three quarters before holding off Cavs guard Tyler Haws – who did the best he could with just over 11 minutes of action, going 3-for-3 from long distance and 3-of-3 from the stripe to lead Cleveland with 12 points. BYU’s all-time scoring leader added one assist and a steal in his action-packed debut.
Guard Keifer Sykes was the only other Cavalier in double-figures with 11 points – adding four boards and a pair of assists in 24 minutes.
The Warriors were paced by James Michael McAdoo, who went 8-of-13 from the floor for a game-high 20 points. Ognjen Kuzmic added 14 points and eight boards and former Buckeye Aaron Craft finished with nine points and a game-high seven helpers. If the trio looked like they were on the same page, it’s because all three helped the Warriors’ D-League affiliate – Santa Cruz – reach three straight Development League Finals, winning it all in 2014-15.
For the Cavaliers, Jerrelle Benimon lead both teams with 10 boards, grabbing four off the offensive glass. Two of Cleveland’s recent second-round draft picks – Rakeem Christmas and Sir’Dominic Pointer – started for the Cavaliers on Friday night.
Christmas, taken with the 31st overall pick, had a rough night from the floor, finishing 1-of-9 despite showing some very nice footwork on the block. Pointer was just 1-of-3, but blocked a pair of shots and showed on several occasions why the Cavaliers liked him as a long, versatile defender.
The Cavaliers get right back after it on Saturday night, taking on the Brooklyn Nets Summer League squad at 10 p.m. ET at COX Pavilion. Finally, they face off against Milwaukee on Monday afternoon, 4 p.m. ET before tournament play tips off on Wednesday.