Cavaliers-Warriors Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Nov 07 2012 11:52AM

The Cleveland Cavaliers' young backcourt just carried them to victory.

The Golden State Warriors' two young guards both came up just short.

Cleveland continues a season-high six-game trip Wednesday night when the Warriors go for their first home win of the season.

Led by seven 3-pointers and 28 points - both season highs - from rookie shooting guard Dion Waiters, and 24 and 10 assists from reigning Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers (2-2) avoided a third loss with Monday's 108-101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Waiters' 3s were the most by a Cav since Daniel Gibson's seven versus Utah on Dec. 20, 2010.

"When you have somebody going like that you just sit back and watch," Irving said of Waiters, whose 16.3 scoring average is second on Cleveland to Irving's 23.8.

The Warriors (2-2) watched Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry launch shots in the final seconds on Monday at Sacramento, but both missed and they fell 94-92.

"I thought it was in," Sacramento's Chuck Hayes said of Curry's 3-point attempt at the buzzer. "When Klay Thompson shot the other one, I thought it was good. Those are two guys when the ball leaves their hands, you think it's good."

Thompson and Curry are tied for the team lead with 10 3s, but they're shooting a combined 35.2 percent from the floor. Curry missed 12 of 15 attempts on Monday when the Warriors hit 39.7 percent as a team.

"The shots I'm not worried about - they'll fall," Jackson said of Curry, who finished with a season-best eight assists.

Plenty of shots have been falling against the Cavs, whose opponents have hit half their field-goal attempts.

"The only disappointment is that we allowed them to shoot such a high percentage (52.7), but that's something we can continue to work on," coach Byron Scott said Monday.

Cleveland, though, has shown some positive signs on the defensive end. The team had a season-high 12 steals against the Clippers, and it has surrendered just 23 second-chance points - tied for the second-fewest in the league - with opponents grabbing 8.8 offensive rebounds per contest.

Cavs center Anderson Varejao leads the NBA with three games of 15 or more rebounds after grabbing that many on Monday.

The team might need to lean even more on Varejao, Alonzo Gee and Tristan Thompson with rookie big man Tyler Zeller out with a concussion and broken cheekbone. Zeller left in the fourth quarter Monday after taking an elbow to the face after scoring a season-best 15 points and pulling down seven rebounds.

The Cavs said there is "no specific timeline" for his return and that he will continue to be monitored and evaluated.

With Zeller being placed in the NBA's concussion protocol process, there will be no on-court reunion between him and Warriors rookie forward Harrison Barnes, his former North Carolina teammate.

Both are averaging 7.5 points, although Barnes is a starter.

Center Andrew Bogut should be in the Warriors' starting lineup for a second straight game as he's still recovering from a fractured left ankle suffered last season while with Milwaukee. The Australian is coming off a season-best 12-point performance.

"I'm just trying to get through these next three to four weeks," Bogut said.

In the only meeting between these teams last season, the visiting Warriors won 105-95 on Jan. 17.

Golden State goes for a second consecutive home win in this series after a 116-98 victory on Jan. 7, 2011, ended Cleveland's 4-0 run in the Bay Area. LeBron James was in the Cavaliers' lineup during that stretch.

Warriors outlast undermanned Cavs, 106-96

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ
Posted Nov 08 2012 2:05AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) David Lee logged 38 more minutes than he thought he would Wednesday night after constantly vomiting and fighting a fever, dizziness and dehydration - "just about anything you can think of," he said - from all the fluids lost.

At one point in the second half, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson turned to Lee during a timeout and asked if his starting power forward felt well enough to continue.

"He said, `No,"' Jackson said, laughing, because he kept Lee in the game anyway. "It just shows the character of these guys."

Lee played through flu-like symptoms to finish with 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, helping the Warriors outlast the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers, 106-96. After sitting out the morning practice, Lee had to take intravenous fluids overnight and before the game just to stay on the court.

"Then I looked, we were up like 13 with like 2 minutes to go, and I kept looking like, `Coach, come on, man,"' Lee said, smiling. "He just pretended like he didn't see me."

Lee's leverage in the paint allowed Golden State to play inside-out with ease.

Stephen Curry scored 21 points to go with six assists, and reserve Carl Landry added 19 points and nine rebounds to help the Warriors take a 17-point lead in the second quarter, go down a basket in the third and cruise to victory in the fourth.

Kyrie Irving also had a stomach ache earlier in the day but had 28 points and seven assists, and Daniel Gibson chipped in 12 points for the Cavaliers, who played without two of their top big men. First-round pick Tyler Zeller was sent back to Cleveland for further concussion tests and Anderson Varejao sat out with soreness in his bruised right knee.

Both injuries occurred in Cleveland's win at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. Cavs coach Byron Scott said it's unclear when either will return.

"The first quarter I thought was a prime example of coming out," Scott said, "and almost feeling sorry for ourselves because we don't have Andy, we don't have Tyler."

Whatever the reason, Golden State took advantage.

The Warriors improved to 3-2, a winning record that doesn't mean much to most NBA teams. For fervent - and often frustrated - fans in the basketball-booming Bay Area, though, the small sample size is enough to provide a glimmer of hope for a franchise that has missed the playoffs 17 of the last 18 seasons.

With the Cavaliers (2-3) depleted on the inside, the Warriors wasted no time turning the game into a rout. They just struggled, at first, to keep Cleveland at a distance.

The Cavs collapsed on the inside and allowed Golden State's shooters to roam free. Curry and Klay Thompson made a flurry of jumpers to give the Warriors a 37-21 lead after the first quarter. Curry alone scored 15 in the period to help Golden State pile up more points than it had in any quarter in the previous four games this season.

"We started out the first quarter really bad and we were just going uphill the entire game," Irving said.

The Cavs surged back in a hurry, closing within five later in the second during a spurt highlighted by an over-the-backboard alley-oop from Gibson to Tristan Thompson that even stirred the home fans. In the third quarter, Alonzo Gee started a three-point play with a driving layup over Harrison Barnes, and Dion Waiters followed with a long jumper to put Cleveland ahead 69-67.

Jarrett Jack, who also sat out the morning practice because of an illness, came through during Golden State's final push. He converted a three-point play over Samardo Samuels - who started in Varejao's place - and threw a long outlet pass ahead to Richard Jefferson for an easy dunk.

Lee helped Golden State outrebound Samuels, Jon Leuer and what was left of Cleveland's frontcourt 44-39 to help Golden State close the third quarter on an 18-5 run, going ahead by 11 and essentially putting the game out of reach.

"These are those games that you have to have when you look back on the season," Jack said. "You can't be like, `Ah, this is one of those games that we kind of gave away.' No matter who's in uniform, you have to go out with that mindset that we have to get this `W' no matter the situation is."

NOTES: New Warriors C Andrew Bogut, still playing through soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle, was held scoreless in 17 minutes of play. He had five points and three rebounds. ... Golden State has won four straight against Cleveland. ... San Francisco Giants slugger and World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval attended the game. .... Cavaliers swingman C.J. Miles also played through an illness. He scored 7 points in 17 minutes.

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Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

Notebook: Warriors 106, Cavaliers 96

Eric Gilmore, for NBA.com
Posted Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:06 AM - Updated Thu Nov 08, 2012 7:03 AM

THE FACTS: Power forward David Lee scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, overcoming the flu and leading the Golden State Warriors to a 106-96 victory Wednesday night over the shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena.

Lee had his first double-double of the season and added six assists and three steals. The Cavaliers played without starting center Anderson Varejao (right knee contusion) and backup center Tyler Zeller (non-displaced fractured left cheek bone/concussion).

Warriors guard Stephen Curry had 21 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals. Forward Carl Landry came off the bench to score 19 points and pull down nine rebounds.

Guard Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 28 points, making 10-for-22 shots from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range.

QUOTABLE: "Very surprised, because I felt awful. I assumed as of last night that I was not going to play. I woke up today and I was throwing up again. I felt awful, and then by this afternoon it felt a little bit better, enough to at least come in and give it a shot. I know as captain of this team, along with Steph and Andrew [Bogut], the guys are looking up to me and seeing how I handle a team when you're not feeling your best. I definitely wanted to play tonight and show that and then went out there. It seems when you don't feel well the ball bounces your way."

-- Warriors' Lee

THE STAT: The Warriors outscored Cleveland 48-30 in paint and outrebounded the Cavs 44-39.

TURNING POINT: The Warriors trailed 70-68 late in the third quarter when they went on a 17-4 run to take an 85-74 lead into the final period. Backup guard Jarrett Jack, playing despite the flu, and Landry fueled the surge. Landry had six points, two rebounds and a block, while Jack had five points, two steals and a rebound during the run.

QUOTABLE II: "When you have those type of guys out, obviously it's going to make a difference. I was under the weather. That's no excuse, but we started out the first quarter really bad and we were just going uphill the entire game."

-- Cavs' Irving, on playing without Varejao and Zeller

HOT: Curry was coming off a 3-for-15 shooting night at Sacramento, but he came out hot Wednesday night in front of the home fan. He shot 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range in the first, scoring 17 points before intermission.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Irving has now scored at least 24 points in each of his past three games. He had 27 against Milwaukee, 24 vs. the L.A. Clippers and 28 against Golden State.

INSIDE THE ARENA: San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, fresh off a World Series championship season, was in the house. He received a loud ovation at the start of the second quarter when they showed him on the big screen above center court.

ROOKIE WATCH: Warriors rookie small forward Harrison Barnes had 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, doing most of his damage inside. Cavaliers rookie guard Dion Waiters countered with 12 points but made just 5-for-15 shots.

NOTABLE: With Anderson and Zellers out, Samardo Samuels was inserted into the starting lineup at forward for the Cavaliers with Tristan Thompson moving from forward to center. Samuels scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. ... The Cavs made their third stop on a six-game road trip. ... Bogut, still coming back from ankle surgery, didn't score in 17:24 but had five assists, three rebounds, one steal and one block. ... Thompson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Daniel Gibson scored 12 points off the bench.

UP NEXT: For the Cavaliers, Friday @ Phoenix, Sunday @ Oklahoma City, Tuesday @ Brooklyn. For the Warriors, Friday at L.A. Lakers, Saturday vs. Denver, Wednesday vs. Atlanta.

• Cavaliers: Varejao, Zeller
• Warriors: Bazemore, Rush

• Cavaliers: Gibson
• Warriors: Barnes

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #56 Mark Ayotte, #42 Eric Lewis
• Attendance: 18124
• Duration: 2:10