Draymond Green made another statement to support his All-Star candidacy, leading the Dubs to a win on Christmas Day over the Cavs.
GAME LEADERS
In a game that featured a pair of superstars with five NBA MVP awards between them, Draymond Green stepped up and was the best player on the floor, leading the Dubs to an 89-83 win on Christmas Day at Oracle Arena.
Green fueled the fire of his All-Star candidacy, coming three assists shy of a triple-double on the premiere day of the NBA’s regular season. The fourth-year forward finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists, sealing the victory with a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the game. In addition to scoring nearly a quarter of the team’s points on the Dubs’ lowest scoring output of the season, Green made his mark on defense. He blocked a pair of Cleveland shots, guarded multiple positions and was largely responsible for holding Cavs forward Kevin Love to 10 points on 5-for-16 shooting.
The Warriors’ do-it-all forward was certainly the MVP on this festive day, but the Warriors wouldn’t have been in position to improve to 28-1 on the season were it not for the contributions from Shaun Livingston. The veteran guard had a season-high 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting, giving the Dubs a tremendous boost on a day in which the team shot just 41 percent from the field.
Fortunately for the Warriors, their defense was much more effective than their offense. Andrew Bogut protected the paint with four blocked shots, and the first place team in the Eastern Conference was held to 31.6 percent shooting. Even though the matchup turned into a grind-it-out slugfest, the premiere game on the NBA’s high-profile Christmas Day lineup lived up to its billing. The NBA Finals rematch had seven lead changes in the first six minutes of the game, and the game seemed to be hanging in the balance for the majority of the action.
The Warriors led for most of the game and pushed their lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter. The Cavs, however, would make a game of it. Cleveland chipped away at their deficit and made it a three-point game with just over a minute left, but Stephen Curry made scored on two straight drives and the Warriors put the game away with free throws and defensive stops.
With the win, the Warriors improved to 14-0 at home this season, and they’ll wrap up their five-game homestand with a showdown with the Kings on Monday night at Oracle Arena.