2016 NBA Finals: Game 2 Recap

In a 33-point rout in Game 2 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors built a 2-0 series lead and put the Cleveland Cavaliers in a hole.

In Game 1 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors were carried to victory by 45 bench points despite the Splash Brothers’ struggles.

In Game 2, the Dubs rode Draymond Green‘s hot shooting hand and Klay Thompson‘s resurgence to a 110-77 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

What’s scary is league MVP Stephen Curry has yet to make his imprint on the Finals.

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Behind 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists and 5-of-11 three-point shooting from Green, along with 17 points and 4-of-8 long range shooting in a concentrated third quarter burst from Thompson, the Dubs blew open a double-digit advantage in the third quarter to embarrass the Cavs.

Despite Curry facing foul trouble for most of the night and only finishing with 18 points (7-of-11 shooting) and nine rebounds, a couple of huge runs from the other two members of Golden State’s Big Three put the game away in the second half, mostly with Curry on the bench.

LeBron James led the Cavs with 19 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, four steals and seven turnovers, Kyrie Irving struggled with 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting and Kevin Love (five points, 2-of-7 shooting) left the game in the third quarter with a concussion. Richard Jefferson added 12 points off the bench.

The Dubs made 15 of their 33 three-point attempts, out-rebounded the Cavaliers by 12 and held Cleveland to 35.4 percent shooting.

In the first quarter, all Lue’s pregame talk seemed to go right out the window in a game that was slowed to a grind. That was for the best for Cleveland, who built a two-point lead heading into the second despite LeBron James not scoring a single point.

Early on, Golden State’s centers ignited Oracle Arena with their hustle plays in the paint. It began with Andrew Bogut, who swatted four shots in his first 7:30 of action. In his best sequence, Bogut turned away a shot from Tristan Thompson at the rim and the Dubs got a Steph Curry three-pointer on the ensuing break.

Festus Ezeli, who had struggled for most of the playoffs, came in and had an impact as well. He was active on the boards and was able to turn a wide open Curry miss into a monster put-back dunk.

The Warriors out-rebounded Cleveland by eight in the first quarter with seven offensive boards.

Unfortunately for the Dubs, two fouls from Curry and six early turnovers helped the Cavs build some momentum despite LeBron’s first basket not coming until the 10:38 mark in the second quarter.

A monstrous jam from LeBron James followed that first basket and gave the Cavs a six-point lead, their largest of the first half.

But at that point, Golden State’s high-powered offense clicked back on after Cleveland left Klay Thompson open for three on the ensuing possession. One quick 9-0 burst from the Dubs with Curry on the bench turned a six-point deficit into a three-point lead.

To make matters worse, “Treymond Green” went into full effect. In Game 1, the Cavs dared Green — a 38.8 percent shooter from deep during the regular season — to shoot three-pointers. He went 2-for-6.

That defensive strategy continued in Game 2, but Green really made the Cavs pay for it, draining three of his first four attempts from downtown and fueling a 20-2 run in 5:11 with back-to-back triples.

With the Dubs taking a 42-30 lead on a Draymond Green three-point play and Kevin Love taking a shot to the head from Harrison Barnes on an offensive rebound, Cleveland was completely in the danger zone.

Luckily for the Cavs, Love was able to stay in the game and drill a three-pointer on the very next possession despite eventually leaving in the third quarter.

The Dubs fired back with back-to-back triples from the Splash Brothers to extend the lead to 13, but Curry picked up his third foul.

Of course, before Curry went to the bench, the MVP couldn’t resist making the Cavaliers’ defense look foolish.

Once Curry sat, however, the Cavaliers responded with a 7-0 run to chop the lead back down to single digits. The Warriors held a 52-44 advantage heading into the break.

LeBron had 14 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals at the half, leading the Cavaliers in all four of those categories, while Green (18 points) and Curry (12 points) led the scoring charge for Golden State.

With Tristan Thompson picking up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, both sides opted to go small, with the Warriors’ Lineup of Death taking on a Cavs lineup of Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson and LeBron James.

While Kevin Love returned to the locker room with concussion-like symptoms, Curry quickly picked up his fourth foul. The two teams traded blows behind some solid play from Smith and Jefferson until a 7-2 run comprised of two Leandro Barbosa layups and a Thompson triple extended the lead back to 14.

The Dubs continued their onslaught despite Curry being on the bench, with Green’s fifth triple of the night giving the Warriors their largest lead to that point of 17 and killing the league MVP who was loving every minute of it.

A three-point play for Thompson — on a pass from Green out of the post — extended that lead to 20, which is the advantage the Dubs held heading into the fourth quarter to all but ensure their Game 2 victory.

In the fourth quarter, it was complete domination from the Dubs right from the start, with a Curry triple from the Golden Gate bridge and a few steals and layups from Leandro Barbosa (10 points) putting the game away for good.

Andrew Bogut finished with six rebounds and five blocks, Leandro Barbosa had 10 off the bench and the Warriors’ second unit outscored Cleveland’s reserves 37-30.

With the series returning to Cleveland for the next two games, the Cavaliers have a lot of defensive problems and rotation issues to sort out if they want to keep their Finals hopes alive.

More hoops habit: Golden State Warriors: 10 Keys To Beating The Cavaliers

Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals will be played at Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday, June 8.