Written by Tim Cato at SB Nation.com
The Golden State Warriors aren’t playing for the regular season, they’ve only lost twice since Dec. 10, and they’re on a 70-win pace. Still, even given all that, it felt like they needed Monday’s evisceration of the Cleveland Cavaliers — if only for their own sanity.
It had been four straight times that the Warriors had lost to Cleveland, a stretch that dated back to June but also included Christmas Day. Of course, Golden State infamously lost that 3-1 Finals lead and signed Kevin Durant a month later, which only fueled the jokes and memes. The regular season may not matter, but the Warriors are constantly reminded they’ve blown a couple leads.
Given all that, this was only outcome for this game that made sense — a completely vindictive Warriors performance in their home stadium. It happened. Stephen Curry set the tone andDraymond Green provided his third triple-double, while Kevin Durant and Klay Thompsonfilled in around the edges. The Warriors scored the first seven points and then they finished the second quarter on a 18-3 run. It was 48 minutes of decimation.
This isn’t the Cavaliers we’ll see in the playoffs and, presumably, the Finals. They have spent nearly two weeks on the road, and the Warriors matchup was the sixth and final game of the trip. They looked tired and, as the game wore on, disinterested in really attempting a comeback. Of course, that was never going to happen anyway, not against a Warriors team that hasn’t left California since Christmas. Still, Cleveland accepted its fate dutifully.
There is a duality. We can admit this wasn’t the Cavaliers’ best performance, while acknowledging the Warriors made a statement nevertheless. They did. The greatest regular season team of all time added Durant, after all. This is who they can be.
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