CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers went cold offensively in the fourth quarter and the Golden State Warriors made them pay for it in the form of a 12-1 scoring run that led to a 108-97 win for the defending champions in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena Friday night.
Up by two points after a dunk from small forward LeBron James with 10:21 to play in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers went without a basket for the next 6:37, and Golden State went on the 12-1 run that proved too much for Cleveland to overcome in the game’s final minutes.
Thanks to the scoring run to close out the game, the Warriors own a 3-1 series lead heading into Monday night’s Game 5 matchup at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Point guard Kyrie Irving led the way for the Cavaliers with 34 points, but made only three of his 10 looks in the final quarter of play. James (25 points), center Tristan Thompson (10), shooting guard J.R. Smith (10) and reserve power forward Kevin Love (11) also finished in double figures. All but four of those 31 points that came from Thompson, Smith and Love were scored in the first half, and that effort could not match the Warriors’ backcourt production.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson and point guard Stephen Curry combined for 63 points with 11 three-pointers, and starting forward Harrison Barnes added four triples on his way to 14 points in the victory.
The Cavaliers nearly matched the Warriors, basket for basket, but a better three-point percentage gave the defending champions a 29-28 lead after the first quarter of play.
The Warriors knocked down five of their seven attempts from distance, as opposed to the three-for-10 performance from long range for the Cavaliers, but they were able to stick with Golden State by making seven of their 12 looks from inside the three-point line.
Curry and Barnes anchored the three-point barrage, as they accounted for two triples each during the first quarter. Shooting guard Klay Thompson accounted for the other before picking up two fouls and missing nearly five minutes of action.
The Cavaliers got an offensive lift from an unlikely source in the first quarter, as Thompson scored eight points to go along with his six rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end of the floor. Irving led the way for the Cavaliers with nine points on three-of-six shooting, including a two-for-three mark from three-point range.
Motivated by a block of Curry by Irving, the Cavaliers went on a 13-9 run over the final 4:17 of the second quarter and took a 55-50 lead over the Warriors into halftime of Game 4.
Curry attempted to drive to the hoop on the left side of the lane, but Irving came from the other side of the key and sent the shot into the Warriors bench, a defensive play that brought the crowd to its feet and served as the spark plug for the offense.
Irving ended the quarter with a game-high seven points, while James was the Cavaliers’ leading playmaker with three assists and three rebounds.
Irving had a game-high 16 points in the first half, while Thompson and Smith each tallied 10 markers.
The Cavaliers went 20 of 43 from the field in the first half, but just five of 16 from three-point range, while the Warriors sunk eight of their 15 looks from deep. The long-distance shots buoyed the Warriors offensively, as they converted only eight of their 22 looks from inside the three-point line.
Former Cavaliers power forward Anderson Varejao picked up two quick fouls upon entering the lineup in the third quarter, but the energized big man proved critical as he pulled down three offensive rebounds, which led to second-chance opportunities for the Warriors.
And a hot-shooting Warriors team took advantage of those extra looks at the basket when Iguodala caught a pass on a backdoor cut and threw down a dunk that proved to be the difference at the end of the quarter, as Golden State held a 79-77 lead over the Cavaliers after the third period.
In addition to Varejao’s hustle, the Warriors got a boost from their three-point shooting, as they knocked down six of their 13 looks from long range, including three triples from Curry and two from Thompson.
With the Cavaliers up by five at the 6:35 mark, the Warriors answered with an 8-0 scoring run.
Thompson got Golden State’s rally started with an 18-foot jumper, and Iguodala and Curry went back-to-back from three-point range on the left side of the floor that turned the deficit into a three-point Warriors lead with just over two minutes to play in the period.
In the third quarter, Curry and Thompson scored 11 and 10 of Golden State’s points, respectively.
