The NBA Finals will come down to a winner-take-all Game 7 after the Warriors fell 115-101 to the Cavaliers in Game 6 on Thursday.
The NBA Finals will come down to a winner-take-all Game 7 after the Warriors fell 115-101 to the Cavaliers in Game 6 on Thursday. Stephen Curry scored 30 points and Klay Thompson added 25, but the Warriors were unable to overcome a large early deficit, thanks in large part to a dominant performance from LeBron James. The defeat evens the series up at three games apiece with Game 7 coming on Sunday.
GAME LEADERS
Game 7 at Oracle ArenaSunday, June 19, at 5 p.m.
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The Warriors’ second half struggles of Game 5 carried over to Game 6, as the Dubs stumbled out of the gates and put themselves in a deep hole early. Cleveland opened up on an 8-0 run, and built their advantage to as large as 22 points. That was immediately before Andre Iguodala made the final basket of the opening quarter, which closed with Golden State trailing 31-11. That proved to be the Warriors’ lowest scoring quarter of the entire season.
Stephen Curry accounted for Golden State’s first five points of the second quarter, and his three-pointer at the 9:39 mark gave the Dubs more points in the frame than they scored in the entire first. That cut the deficit to 15, and after a LeBron James three-pointer increased that by two, the Warriors responded with a 9-0 run to pull within 46-48 with 4:40 remaining in the first half. Unfortunately for Golden State, that’s as close as they’d get until the fourth quarter, as the Cavaliers responded by scoring the next eight points. Cleveland would maintain that 16-point advantage through the rest of the half, taking a 59-43 lead into halftime.
The Cavs opened the second half on an 8-3 burst in the first four minutes to take their largest lead of the night at 70-46. Golden State wouldn’t go away quietly, however, responding with a 9-0 run to pull within 15 points halfway through the third. After the two sides traded baskets, LeBron James scored four points in a span of 20 seconds, beginning a stretch in which he’d score 18-straight points for the Cavs, single-handedly carrying the scoring burden for Cleveland from the latter half of the third frame through the opening six minutes of the fourth. The Warriors have their fair share of superstars, too, and Klay Thompson responded in kind. He’d score all but two of Golden State’s points through the remainder of the third quarter, including the last eight points in the final 91 seconds, cutting the deficit to 80-71 heading into the fourth.
Golden State closed within seven points at 86-79 with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, marking the closest they’d been since their first basket of the night. But, James followed that with the final four points of his 18-point run, rebuilding the lead to double-digits, and the Cavs would run away with it from there.
The eventual 115-101 defeat forced the 19th Game 7 in NBA Finals history, which will take place at Oracle Arena this Sunday night.