After a sluggish start, the Golden State Warriors came alive to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-101.
Stephen Curry led the way with 33 points, while reserve Juan Toscano-Anderson put up a career-high 20 points in the victory, giving the Dubs their first-four game winning streak of the season.
The Warriors took control of the game in the second quarter and managed to keep the Cavs at bay for most of the contest. Golden State shot 51.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the bigger Cleveland team 47-39.
The Dubs are clicking at the right time as they try and lock down a play-in position. The energy and defense have been better during the winning streak. Both will need to continue during the stretch drive of the schedule.
It was good to see Toscano-Anderson have a breakout game. He’s been working hard to earn himself some minutes and is showing improvement across the board. JTA went eight-of-nine from the field and finished with seven rebounds.
“Juan’s a great passer and playmaker so when there’s space on the floor and shooters on the perimeter he just understands how to run and slip and fake a DHO like you saw when he had that monster dunk,” head coach Steve Kerr said following the game. “He’s very clever. He really understands the game at a high level. I think when he’s had consistent minutes for us this year he’s been great, especially in smaller lineups.”
It was a poor start for the Warriors. They missed their first five 3-point attempts and trailed 17-6 less than five minutes into the game. But the Dubs’ energy began to pick up to end the quarter.
Draymond Green threw down this nasty dunk to get things going.
Toscano-Anderson was also a big reason why things began to turn around. He scored eight points off the bench in the opening quarter and helped Golden State cut the deficit to 31-28 after the first.
The Warriors came out with authority to start the second. Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins combined to score 14 points over the first five minutes of the quarter and helped the Dubs take an eleven-point lead, and they never looked back.
Golden State dominated Cleveland for the entire quarter. The Cavs couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end and were held to just 21 points in the period. The Warriors’ energy was much better in the quarter, and they took a 63-52 lead into the break.
It was a different story in the third. The Cavaliers tightened up things defensively and began chipping away at the deficit, getting back to within four points. But Curry turned things on and scored eight straight points for the Warriors, helping them extend the lead back to 10 going into the fourth.
The Warriors are finally back at .500 for the season and are in sole possession of ninth in the Western Conference.
Golden State will try and extend its winning streak to five when it takes on the Boston Celtics on Saturday.
