Recap: Golden State vs. Cleveland
Sports Network | January 12, 2010
Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - LeBron James barely missed a triple-double, finishing with 37 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, as Cleveland held off Golden State, 117-114, at ORACLE Arena.
James, who went 12-of-23 from the field, also had four blocked shots. Anderson Varejao chipped in 15 points, while Zydrunas Ilgauskas tallied 14 points and nine boards for the Cavaliers, who moved to 2-1 on a five-game road trip with upcoming contests against the Jazz and Clippers.
Shaquille O'Neal had 13 points and Jawad Williams a career-best 11 for Cleveland, which nearly blew an 11-point lead with under 2 1/2 minutes left.
Coming off a 12-point win at Portland on Sunday, the Cavs shot 53.1 percent from the field and won for the 15th time in 18 games.
Corey Maggette had 32 points and Monta Ellis 30 for the Warriors, who had won their last two, but have now dropped four of six. Stephen Curry scored 21 and Vladimir Radmanovic ended with 18 points and nine boards in defeat.
Daniel Gibson's three-pointer widened Cleveland's lead to 115-104 with 2:20 remaining, but Curry drained a three-ball. Maggette's layup with 1:02 left provided a six-point margin, and then Delonte West lost the ball off an inbound pass. Curry whipped a behind-the-back pass to Ellis, who nailed a three from the right corner with 57.9 seconds to go for the 115-112 margin.
James then slashed through the lane for a bucket with 36.7 showing on the clock, but Curry's quick finger roll at the other end made it a one-possession game again.
A three-point shot by James hit off the front of the rim with five seconds left, and instead of calling a timeout the Warriors raced up the court to try and tie the game. Curry's desperation rainbow three-ball was wide of the rim as time expired.
"They kept making shots, but we were able to make one stop," James said. "We just needed one stop and we were able to get that."
It was a rough night shooting-wise for Ellis, who went 9-of-25 from the field.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win, made mistakes, but we stuck with it," Ellis said. "We still managed to come back and lose by three. It was a tough game."
Cleveland led 33-31 after a frantic first quarter and the Cavs pulled away in the second, leading by as many as 11 before settling for a 62-54 edge at the half. The Warriors were forced to play catch-up in the third, but after James' pull-up three-ball ended the period, Golden State was looking at a 93-83 deficit. The Cavs were up by as many as 14 in the fourth.
Cleveland has won four straight and seven of the last eight meetings...Cleveland center Ronny Turiaf rolled his right ankle late in the second quarter and didn't return. Warriors forward Anthony Randolph will be out an extended period of time due to a left ankle injury. The team said Randolph underwent an MRI Monday, which revealed a tear of two outside ligaments and a mild sprain of another ligament in his left ankle. The MRI also revealed an avulsion fracture, where muscle pulled off a piece of bone. Randolph will be in a boot for three weeks and will be re-evaluated when it's removed. Rehabilitation will be prescribed at that time...Golden State is 1-1 on a seven-game homestand, which continues Wednesday against Miami...Maggette missed one of his 18 foul shots.
