CLEVELAND – The NBA Finals have become a best-of-three series.
Led by shooting guard Andre Iguodala, the Golden State Warriors took back home-court advantage after they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 103-82, at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night, and take a 2-2 series tie back to Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, for Game 5 on Sunday night.
Iguodala had the hot hand for much of the night, as he buried eight of his 15 attempts from the field, including four of his nine three-point attempts. In addition to his 22 points, which led all Warriors, Iguodala pulled down eight rebounds in the victory.
Although four of the Cavaliers' five starters reached double figures, led by 28 points from center Timofey Mozgov, they converted only 29 of their 88 attempts from the field, went just four of 27 from three-point range, and got just five points off the bench.
The Cavaliers started Game 4 of the NBA Finals on a 7-0 run and forced the Golden State Warriors to burn their first timeout of the night just over two minutes into the first quarter.
After James missed a jumper, center Tristan Thompson fought his way to an offensive rebound and tipped the ball back into the hoop for the game's first basket. Then, Mozgov caught a pass from James in the lane and scored on a hook shot in the lane, and shooting guard Iman Shumpert followed with a three-pointer.
However, after the timeout, the Warriors went on a 22-13 run and took a 22-20 lead over the Cavaliers when shooting guard Klay Thompson hit a running jump shot in the lane with 3:57 to play in the first quarter.
Although the Cavaliers hit nine of their first 16 shots from the field, Golden State quickly cut into their lead when the Warriors buried three three-pointers, including two from point guard Stephen Curry.
While the Warriors only made four of their 12 attempts from three-point range in the first quarter, they held a 31-24 lead after the first 12 minutes of play.
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Iguodala went four of seven from the field, had two dunks in transition and buried a late three-pointer that put the Warriors in front of the Cavaliers by nine points, 31-22, with only 30 seconds to play in the quarter before Thompson got an eight-foot shot to fall for the last basket of the period.
On the strength of a 13-8 run at the start of the second quarter, the Warriors built their lead over the Cavaliers to 12 points, 44-32, with 5:42 to play in the first half.
Although Curry missed his first two three-pointers of the second quarter, he got a lift from small forward Draymond Green, who caught a pass at the top of the key and buried a triple. On his way up the floor, Green let out several celebratory screams and said, "I'm back" after struggling offensively in the Game 3 Tuesday night.
While Golden State was hitting its shots, the Cavaliers made just two baskets over the first seven minutes of play in the second quarter The Cavaliers' shooting woes continued over the rest of the half, and as a result, the Warriors, took a 54-42 lead into halftime.
Despite James, Mozgov and Thompson reaching double figures, the Cavaliers shot just 37 percent in the first half. Mozgov led the way with 13 points on five-of-nine shooting, and Thompson added 10 on a five-of-seven performance, which was aided heavily by three offensive rebounds and several put-back attempts.
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James scored 10 points, but was just four of 12 from the field and one of four at the free-throw line. As a team, the Cavaliers turned the ball over just three times in the first half, they hit only two of their 13 attempts from three-point range.
Green led the Warriors with 13 points, while Thompson, Iguodala and Curry combined for 24.
The Cavaliers started the second half with a pair of three-point shots from Dellavedova, and they did not let up over the next six minutes of play. With a transition dunk from James, the Cavaliers cut the Warriors' advantage to three points, 65-62, with 5:03 to play in the third quarter.
During their 20-11 scoring run, the Cavaliers held the Warriors to only two baskets, and were able to not only get to the free-throw line, but also, make their four attempts at the charity stripe.
After Mozgov buried his second attempt of the quarter, Shumpert hit a pull-up 17-footer as the shot clock was set to expire. Then, James followed up with a pair of baskets in the lane, one on a layup and the second on an alley-oop dunk on a lob pass from Dellavedova.
Although the Cavaliers cut into Golden State's lead, the Warriors closed the last three minutes of the third quarter on an 11-8 run, and took a 76-70 lead into the fourth quarter.
Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes knocked down a 24-foot three-pointer that stopped the Cavaliers' initial scoring run, and then, Iguodala scored four straight points before Curry knocked down a 25-foot three-point shot with 17 seconds left in the quarter.
