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 The Cavaliers added another unpredictable chapter to their wild
2013-14 story, using a 68-39 dominance in the middle two quarters to
erase what was once a 20-4 deficit en route to a win over a team it
hadn't beaten in four-plus years.
"I feel like they're growing," Brown said of the Cavaliers (26-40),
who began their three-game Western swing Wednesday night with an
equally surprising win at Phoenix.
"But anytime you grow," Brown continued, "you're going to take a
step back here and there, and that's the part that's hard to figure
out. That's the time I wish I had some hair to pull out of my head."
In-season acquisition center Spencer Hawes had a 22-point,
13-rebound double-double as the Cavaliers won for the sixth time in
their last eight games against Western Conference clubs and moved
within 3 1/2 games of the final playoff spot in the East.
The Cavaliers go for a Western triple when they close the trip in
Los Angeles against the Clippers on Sunday night.
"We came out on this road trip to win them all," insisted shooting
guard Jarrett Jack, who enjoyed a homecoming at the site of his
crowd-pleasing 2012-13 season. "We did the hard part winning the
first two. We have to try and finish off the job."
What made Part II especially hard was the almost immediate 20-4
deficit against a team that had won its last five home games. The
margin had increased to 18, 36-18, in the third minute of the second
quarter before the Cavaliers completely turned the tables with a
23-2 flurry.
Backup guards Dion Waiters and Matthew Dellavedova led the charge.
Waiters had 10 of Cleveland's 23 points in the comeback, while
Dellavedova dropped in a pair of 3-pointers.
"Golden State really hit us in the mouth," Brown observed. "We could
have folded. But our second unit (led by Waiters and Dellavedova)
did a nice job."
The run ended with the Cavaliers up 41-38, and even though the
Warriors managed to regain a 53-52 edge by halftime, the visitors
weren't through charging.
Cleveland trailed 64-62 with 4:59 remaining in the third period
before catching fire again, outscoring the Warriors 22-7 the rest of
the period to go up by 13, 84-71.
Point guard Kyrie Irving, held to three points in the game's first
34 minutes, bombed in a pair of 3-pointers in the run. Jack (six
points), small forward Luol Deng (six) and Hawes (four) did the rest
of the scoring.
The Warriors got within nine on a 3-pointer by small forward Andre
Iguodala with still 3:29 to play, but Waiters countered immediately
with a drive to the hoop and Cleveland kept Golden State at arm's
length the rest of the way. "I don't think it's surprising," Hawes
said of the 2-0 start to the trip. "We see what we're capable of. We
just don't do it consistently."
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Waiters backed Hawes with 18 points for the Cavaliers, who shot 48.8
percent from the field overall and 45.5 percent (10 of 22) from
3-point range. Irving and Deng finished with 16 points apiece.
Point guard Stephen Curry poured in 27 points on his 26th birthday
for the Warriors, who played without Klay Thompson. The club's
starting shooting guard was in the Bahamas attending his
grandfather's funeral.
Backup forward Draymond Green had a career-high-tying 18 points and
power forward David Lee 16 for the Warriors (41-25), who fell 2 1/2
games behind Portland in the battle for the No. 5 playoff position
in the West.
"The back-to-back second and third quarters, giving up 36 and 32
points. That's not our brand of defense, I don't care who you are
playing," Warriors coach Mark Jackson observed. "For us, it's a
recipe for disaster and it's unacceptable."
The Warriors connected on only 11 of their 29 3-point attempts,
including just six of the 19 not taken by Curry, in failing to erase
the sting of a 111-98 blowout loss to the Clippers on Wednesday.
"Terrible loss coming off a tough one down in L.A.," insisted Curry.
"We've just got to be resilient again and find a way to get one on
Sunday (at Portland). That'll be a big game for us."
The Warriors appeared well on their way to a sixth consecutive home
victory when they scored 20 of the game's first 24 points. The early
run was a team effort, with Lee contributing nine points, Iguodala a
pair of 3's, center Andrew Bogut five rebounds and Curry four
assists.
But the Cavaliers steadied the ship, playing Golden State evenly for
the rest of the period, setting up their midgame dominance.
NOTES: The Cavaliers' last win over the Warriors was on Jan. 10,
2010, after which Golden State ran off six consecutive victories.
... SG Klay Thompson's absence was the first of his NBA career,
snapping a 214-game streak that stands as the longest in Warriors
history to begin a career. Thompson is expected back for Sunday's
game at Portland. ... Warriors backup C Jermaine O'Neal appeared in
his 1,000th NBA game, joining just 15 active players to have earned
that distinction. O'Neal became the first player ever to play in a
1,000th game as a member of the Warriors. ... Cavaliers SG Jarrett
Jack, who contributed nine points and four assists to Friday's win,
recorded at least 10 points and five assists off the bench in 32
Warriors games last season. No Golden State backup has a 10/5 game
this year.
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