Final thoughts
Well, not exactly the high scoring instant classic that some of us hoped we would get this Christmas, but Cavaliers/Warriors turned out to be a close, suspenseful game none-the-less. While there’s still two more NBA games remaining (Spurs/Rockets and Clippers/Lakers) this will end today’s live coverage here at the Guardian. Thanks to all who spent a portion of their holiday following along to this liveblog. Ciao!
With this win, the Warriors remain unbeaten at home and improve their record to 28-1. The Cleveland Cavaliers fall to 19-8, but they deserve credit for holding the Warriors to a season-low 89 points.
Warriors win!
Cavaliers 83-89 Warriors, FINAL
Draymond Green’s turn to get immediately fouled. (Isn’t this a real fun way to end a ballgame folks?) He makes both. And that will do it! Warriors win!
Cavaliers 83-87 Warriors, 8.2 seconds, 4th quarter
Livingston reaches out at J.R. Smith, who throws the ball up and draws a shooting foul. He makes two of three free throws. Won’t matter.
Cavaliers 81-87 Warriors, 10 seconds, 4th quarter
James’s three is short. Warriors get the rebound. Tristan Thompson fouls Iguodala. He makes both free throws this time.
Cavaliers 81-85 Warriors, 19.1 seconds, 4th quarter
Delly fouls Iggy, always love typing that, and he goes to the line. And he misses BOTH. Everybody’s getting bricks for Christmas.
Cavaliers 81-85 Warriors, 20.3 seconds, 4th quarter
James’s second free throw is...
NO GOOD!
That might do it for the Cavs’ chances.
Cavaliers 81-85 Warriors, 20.3 seconds, 4th quarter
Cavaliers have the ball. James’s jumper is no good, the Warriors get the rebound. Curry’s three on the other end is no good. Love gets the rebound, Green fouls LeBron.
LeBron makes the first free throw and...
The Warriors take a time out. SUSPENSE!
Cavaliers 80-85 Warriors, :57, 4th quarter
Curry makes a layup but the Warriors aren’t out of the woods. J.R. Smith makes a three pointer to cut the lead down to three.
Very briefly. Curry scores seconds later. Cleveland takes a time out.
Cavaliers 77-81 Warriors, 1:32, 4th quarter
LeBron James gets fouled near the basket.. and he misses both free throws? How?
Cavaliers 77-81 Warriors, 1:50, 4th quarter
Livingston picks up his fourth foul, giving the ball back to the Cavaliers, who take a timeout. After the timeout, Love puts back in a LeBron miss and it’s a four point Warriors lead.
Cavaliers 75-81 Warriors, 2:36, 4th quarter
Draymond Green makes it a 10 point lead. Blood in in the water....
...But LeBron James is still LeBron. He dunks on one end, blocks a Thompson layup on the other and then dunks
Cavaliers 71-79 Warriors, 3:57, 4th quarter
Iguodala locks a would-be LeBron layup and, yeah, that’s going to raise the noise factor. The Warriors get the ball and take a timeout. Coming out of that, Klay Thompson hits a mid-range jumper and time is starting to run out on Cleveland.
Cavaliers 71-77 Warriors, 4:55, 4th quarter
Kyrie makes a crowd-dampening layup right after.
Cavaliers 69-77 Warriors, 5:19, 4th quarter
Man do the Cavaliers look better with Kyrie Irving, hitting a fadeway to dull the Warriors momentum.
But nobody is hotter than Livingston who unleashes a dunk that gets the Oracle Arena crowd REAL loud.
Cavaliers 67-75 Warriors, 5:56, 4th quarter
The Warriors’ best players connect with a Curry-to-Green layup, that feels like it could a turning point. A chance for Golden State to start to get some distance between them and Cleveland.
Oh and Iguodala gets to the free throw line and sinks two.
Cavaliers 67-71 Warriors, 6:40, 4th quarter
Delly and Love connect to cut the Warriors lead back to 3, but Delly fouls Klay on the other end. Delly makes one of two, could be worse.
Oh yeah and here comes LeBron, who is back on the court after a break.
Cavaliers 65-70 Warriors, 7:52, 4th quarter
And a foul on Kyrie Irving. And a timeout.
The Warriors have the ball. Tristan Thompson does some good defense on the Other Thompson, altering his shot.
Instead, it’s Livingston who is the Warriors offense this quarter, hitting another jump shot.
Cavaliers 65-68 Warriors, 8:37, 4th quarter
Thompson gets hit with a foul on the other end, it’s starting to get a bit physical here in the fourth.
Kyrie Irving almost cuts into the lead with a three-pointer that bounces out. Iguodala misses a three for the Warriors, a potential six point swing negated.
And... there’s a loose ball foul on Cleveland, but Livingston turns the ball over. Dellavedova makes a jumper, finally a field goal.
Cavaliers 63-68 Warriors, 10:06, 4th quarter
On the other end, Livingston makes up the points difference by hitting his second jumper in a row.
Cavaliers 63-66 Warriors, 11:04, 4th quarter
Livingston fouls Tristan Thompson, the officials conference to see whether it should be flagrant or not, but deem it a mere “common foul.” Which always sounds so aristocratic. Thompson sinks both of his free throws.
Cavaliers 61-66 Warriors, 11:04, 4th quarter
Nevermind, it’s a 5 point game again. Livingston immediately hits a jumper.
Cavaliers 61-64 Warriors, 11:38, 4th quarter
Cavaliers have the ball to start the fourth. James hits a tough shot and it’s a three point game.
Cavaliers 59-64 Warriors, 12:00, 4th quarter
@HunterFelt To think that if the Bucks hadn't exposed them, the Warriors would be a quarter away from tying the Lakers streak...
— Elena V (@amariselv) December 26, 2015
@HunterFelt (I said 'exposed' kiddingly, but not completely. Way the Bucks are, even a tired GS should have been able to put them away.)
— Elena V (@amariselv) December 26, 2015
Certainly ABC wishes the undefeated streak were still on the line for this game, the numbers would have been crazy.
In any case, the Warriors haven’t won this one yet.
Cavaliers 59-64 Warriors, end of 3rd quarter
Tough defense from the Warriors limits the Cavaliers to just one more shot in the quarter, a wonky James layup that ends up going in, but they can’t score themselves. It’s a five point Golden State lead heading into the fourth. The Cavaliers will take it.
Cavaliers 57-64 Warriors, 1:50, 3rd quarter
Curry picks up a third foul, sending Dellavedova to the free throw line to make one of tow.
Livingston makes a jumper for the Golden State.
Cavaliers 56-62 Warriors, 2:31, 3rd quarter
Warriors have the ball. Curry’s got it and gets the ball to Ezeli, who draws a foul on Shump. He makes one of two free throws.
Cavaliers 56-61 Warriors, 2:47, 3rd quarter
Curry-to-Green for a layup, there could have been a foul called there but there’s no whistle.
And we have a Warriors timeout.
Cavaliers 56-59 Warriors, 4:03, 3rd quarter
And that hurts because Curry gets the ball finally and Curry, of course, scores.
Oh hey, but Thompsan, T. cuts the lead back down with a layup.
Cavaliers 54-57 Warriors, 5:31, 3rd quarter
LeBron James hits a layup, J.R. Smith hits a triple. All of a sudden, it’s just a three-point Golden State lead. And then there’s a back-and-fourth and the now frantic Cavs keep missing attempts to tie the game up.
Cavaliers 49-57 Warriors, 7:07, 3rd quarter
Steph Curry takes advantage of some confused Cleveland defense and makes a layup, draws a foul and drains a free throw.
Cavaliers 49-54 Warriors, 7:55, 3rd quarter
Love unleashes a long three that’s no good, but Mozgov rebounds, gets it to LeBron who hits his first three-pointer of the first game.
Cavaliers 46-54 Warriors, 8:56, 3rd quarter
These are the runs the Warriors go on where other teams blink and find themselves unable to figure out why they’re behind all of a sudden.
News from the Warriors, Barbosa is doubtful to return with a shoulder sprain.
Cavaliers 46-54 Warriors, 8:56, 3rd quarter
And HERE’S a real Warriors run. Thompson hits a jumper, Curry feeds Green for a drunk and Blatt has to take a timeout.
Cavaliers 46-50 Warriors, 9:48, 3rd quarter
And Klay Thompson drains a three, assisted by Curry. A very Golden State possession.
Kevin Love then counters with a layup.
Cavaliers 44-47 Warriors, 10:54, 3rd quarter
Klay Thompson draws a foul on Mozgov coming towards the basket and sinks his free throws.
Cavaliers 44-45 Warriors, 11:20, 3rd quarter
Curry passes to Bogut to start the second half and it’s... too high. Turnover. On the other end, Irving drains a long two to start the scoring.
And this woman has the greatest Christmas story of all time:
Maintain a safer distance from LeBron James if you insist on talking trash. https://t.co/P02Z374VFw https://t.co/CX5DweIojL
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) December 25, 2015
Your thoughts?
I think this has been a fun game. Hey, it’s not a blowout at the very least. The Warriors are a second half team, so I have to think they have the advantage, but Cleveland can easily win this one. Your thoughts? Send us an email (to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com) or a tweet (to @HunterFelt).
This is so important:
halftime show is CHRISTMAS DOGS pic.twitter.com/M6wM99fFu8
— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) December 25, 2015
Halftime!
It’s closer than I thought it would be, yet I’m still not impressed with the Cavaliers. Does that make any sense at all?
Cavaliers 42-45 Warriors, end of the 1st half
David Blatt calls another timeout. Well, that ends up working this time as LeBron finds Delly for a layup that cuts the Warriors lead to-
Oh nope, Thompson tips in a Green shot attempt to push the lead back up.
Cavaliers 40-43 Warriors, :58, 2nd quarter
And Shumpert puts Curry on the line, an event which usually ends poorly. It does so here, Curry makes both free throws.
Cavaliers 40-41 Warriors, 1:13, 2nd quarter
And, the scoring see-saw see saws some more. Iman Shumpert fouls Thompson, K. who hits both free throws. Warriors back in front.
Cavaliers 40-39 Warriors, 1:50, 2nd quarter
Thompson fouls LeBron, who makes one of two free throws.
Finally the Warriors halt the scoring drought, Iguodala-to-Green for a layup. One point game.
Cavaliers 39-37 Warriors, 2:54, 2nd quarter
Kyrie’s shot:
Kyrie spins and wins on @ABC! #NBAVine #NBAXmas https://t.co/WFvgmyH6cR
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2015
Cavaliers can’t convert out of the timeout, but the Warriors turn it over once again. A sloppy game for Golden State.
Cavaliers 39-37 Warriors, 3:50, 2nd quarter
Yikes, Irving explodes to the rim and give the Cavaliers another lead. Is he back... not quite. After a Green miss gives the Cavaliers the ball back, Irving misses back-to-back attempts to get the ball in. They manage to maintain possession, after a brief discussion with the officials, and Cavaliers head coach David Blatt calls a timeout.
Cavaliers 37-37 Warriors, 5:05, 2nd quarter
And then James gets on the line, where he ties the game up by making one of two free throws.
Cavaliers 36-37 Warriors, 5:28, 2nd quarter
STEPH CURRY IS BACK ON THE COURT! Phew. He’s coming in for Livingston.
Kyrie Irving is on the line, he has a free throw after a defensive three second call on Golden State. He hits the freebie.
Cavaliers 35-37 Warriors, 5:28, 2nd quarter
Oh here’s some not good news:
ESPN's Heather Cox says Steph Curry's locker room visit involves his right calf. Hasn't come back yet. (please be OK please be OK)
— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) December 25, 2015
So it’s time for Klay Thompson is taking over this game, making a finger-roll layup to untie the game.
Before the Opposing Thompson, Tristan, hits a layup.
Livingston then scores for Golden State and the scoring see-saw continues.
Cavaliers 33-33 Warriors, 6:47, 2nd quarter
Or not Festus “Festive” Ezeli lays down a hook shot and the Warriors regain the lead...
Briefly. The LeBron happens.
Cavaliers 31-31 Warriors, 8:28, 2nd quarter
Rough turnover from Klay Thompson, Irving gets control of it and the Warriors have to foul to prevent him from an easy score. On the line, Irving makes both free throws and we’re tied. That wa quick.
Updated
Cavaliers 29-31 Warriors, 9:12, 2nd quarter
The timeout doesn’t help. LeBron James pushes through a Leandro Barbosa foul to lay up a shot and hits the free throw. Two point game.
Cavaliers 26-31 Warriors, 9:39, 2nd quarter
Iguodala hits a three-pointer, which negates Williams’s free throws but only briefly. Dellavedova and Williams hit back-to-back shots and Warriors interim coach Luke Walton calls a quick timeout.
Cavaliers 22-28 Warriors, 11:23, 2nd quarter
Mo Williams, who is still in the league, gets fouled by Livingston and is given three free throws and he makes all three. Odd start to the second.
Cavaliers 19-28 Warriors, end of the 1st quarter
Ooh a monster Tristan Thompson dunk draws some “oh boys” from the Oracle crowd but that’s it for the Cavaliers scoring in this quarter. Shaun Livingston hits a fadeaway, LeBron almost makes a buzzer beater but can’t quite get it off on time and we’re a fourth of the way through what could be an exciting game.
Cavaliers 17-26 Warriors, 1:34, 1st quarter
LeBron plows through the Warriors like they weren’t even there for a massive layup but the Cavs can’t get momentum. Green makes a layup and gets fouled in the process, but can’t make the free throw.
Cavaliers 15-24 Warriors, 2:15, 1st quarter
Curry makes it, obviously.
Shaun Livingston, who is in the game for the Warriors by the way, pulls up for a jump story to hand Golden State their biggest lead.
No, nevermind, Curry makes a long three-pointer and NOW they have an even bigger lead.
Cavaliers 15-18 Warriors, 4:02, 1st quarter
...But Bogut to Curry will increase the lead back to 3 points, plus Delly fouled him on the attempt and he’ll get a plus one. The Cavaliers opt to take their timeout.
Cavaliers 15-16 Warriors, 4:02, 1st quarter
Matthew Dellavedova cuts the Warriors streak with a jump shot of his own, plus a foul on Curry. He completes the three point play by making the free throw.
Cavaliers 12-16 Warriors, 4:55, 1st quarter
Mozgov misses a layup, Green gets the rebound, gets it to Curry who gets fouled while shooting. Curry makes both.
Cavaliers 12-14 Warriors, 5:25, 1st quarter
Iguodala is in the game for Rush, always weird that the better player comes in off the bench but it’s been working for the Warriors.
Steph Curry pulls of a steal on Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love has to give the foul. After the foul, Draymond Green hits a three-pointer, after a pass from Curry, and the Warriors get the lead.
Cavaliers 12-11 Warriors, 5:43, 1st quarter
Kevin Love drives in to make a layup, Klay Thompson responds with one of his own and... okay, finally the Warriors call a timeout and give me a chance to catch up and take a breath here.
Cavaliers 10-9 Warriors, 7:16, 1st quarter
J.R. Smith fouls Draymond Green, it’s a shooting foul so Green goes to the line and makes two free throws.
Then Brandon Rush puts Kyrie Irving on to the line, he makes both.
Draymond makes a three. Warriors lead. Smith makes ANOTHER three, Cavaliers lead. Oh wow, this is getting fun.
Cavaliers 5-4 Warriors, 8:26, 1st quarter
But Kevin Love finds J.R. Smith for a three pointer in response. Bogut hits another basket. LeBron James responds with one of his own and, okay, we have a basketball game now.
Cavaliers 0-2 Warriors, 10:02, 1st quarter
An Andrew Bogut layup accounts for the first scoring of the game after two minutes of nada.
We're off!
Cavaliers 0-0 Warriors, 12:00, 1st quarter
Cavaliers get the ball to start. Timofey Mozgov’s basket is wiped away because he steps out of bounds.
Updated
Nic Bogren sends us an email with the simple subject line of “Kobe,” trying to solve the Temecula riddle:
Probably that El Niño thing down there. Too hot to think?
Updated
All-star voting
Of course, Kobe Bryant fans are passionate. How else do you account for that Bryant, who is retiring at the end of this season, currently has the most All-Star votes despite being, quite possibly, the worst starter in the league?
Important note
It’s not only Christmas, but it’s the one year anniversary of the day where someone drove a half-hour to Temecula in a (failed) attempt to physically settle a Twitter argument over whether Kobe Bryant was done or not. This, of course, is what any rational basketball fan does on Christmas instead of spending time with loved ones.
Happy Temecula Day everybody!
NO.
Did... did LeBron just win Christmas? (via @kingjames/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/TLeikdHxfG
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 25, 2015
Predictions
Okay, now that we can concentrate on the main event, it’s time to ask for predictions. I’m going to go with the team that has only lost one game, I’m guessing the Warriors win, but it’s going to be relatively close. Maybe 105-101? What have you got? Anybody want to pick the Cavaliers handing the Warriors their first home loss of the season? Let’s hear your thoughts, email them to Hunter.Felt@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt.
Bulls beat the Thunder 105-96
And it’s official. The Bulls never trailed in this one. Key win for a Bulls team trying to find its identity. Good news for us: our game will start relatively on-time.
It looks like that’s a wrap for the Oklahoma City Thunder who fought back from large deficits to bring it close but couldn’t quite get over the hump. With 28 seconds left, the Chicago Bulls hold a 105-96 lead.
Golden State Warriors starting lineup
Stephen Curry PG
Klay Thompson SG
Brandon Rush SF
Draymond Green PF
Andrew Bogut C
Harrison Barnes is still out for the Warriors.
Cleveland Cavaliers starting lineup
Kyrie Irving PG
JR Smith SG
LeBron James SF
Kevin Love PF
Timofey Mozgov C
The Thunder have cut the Bulls lead down to 6 points with less than four minutes to go. Pretty exciting undercard all of a sudden.
Meanwhile, Steph Curry is practicing.
Steph Curry warms up the handles for #CLEatGSW on ABC! #NBAvine https://t.co/jeAFHjKjZW
— NBA (@NBA) December 25, 2015
Already in progress
Earlier today, the Miami Heat defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 94-88 in overtime (that sounds like a more exciting game than it actually was). The Chicago Bulls are currently leading by double digits on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 4th quarter of their game.
At 8:00 EST, the surging San Antonio Spurs face the stumbling, struggling Houston Rockets. At 10:30, the erratic Los Angeles Clippers face the absolutely putrid Los Angeles Clippers as the Kobe Bryant reunion tour rolls on.
Preamble
Happy holidays everybody and welcome to the Guardian’s Christmas Day basketball liveblog! While there’s a full slate of NBA games going on today, five in total, we’re going to cover the one that everybody has really been waiting for: the Cleveland Cavaliers facing the Golden State Warriors in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals.
Since beating the Cavaliers in six games on their way towards winning the championship, the Warriors have gone on to lose only one more time, against the Milwaukee Bucks of all teams. Now, the Warriors’ lone loss occurred at the end of a seven game road trip, on the night after an exhausting double-overtime win over the Boston Celtics. The Warriors, obviously, are well rested today, as every team got Christmas Eve off (Commissioner Adam Silver isn’t THAT heartless, after all). There’s a real possibility that last season’s MVP (and this season’s MVP favorite) Steph Curry and company could cruise their way to their 28th win today.
However, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are not likely to be pushovers. The Cavaliers are 19-7, have a 2 1/2 game lead in the Eastern Conference and are riding a six game win streak. Oh, plus point guard Kyrie Irving has only just now returned to the lineup. The 2015-16 Cavaliers are, quite clearly, the toughest opponent Golden State have faced since, well, the 2014-15 Cavaliers. A loss today could severely hurt Golden State’s chances of tying or beating the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ regular season record of 72-10.
So, we could very well be in for a Christmas classic here shortly. As always, we welcome your feedback. Send us your thoughts, comments, jokes and holiday anecdotes throughout the game and we’ll share them to the world via this liveblog. You can email hunter.felt@theguardian.com or tweet @HunterFelt.
It’s the Cleveland Cavaliers facing the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Opening tip is 5:00pm EST, but because the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Chicago Bulls are still playing, it might actually start a bit later than that. In any case, we’ll be back well before then with starting lineups, predictions and holiday errata.
Happy Christmas! Hunter will be here shortly.
