As we have arrived to the sixth game of the NBA Finals, the Warriors were right where they wanted to be, one game away from capturing the NBA title. LeBron James and the Cavs had other plans and since the game was being played in Cleveland, the Warriors needed to get a win in front of a hostile crowd.
The Warriors were treating this game as if it were a Game 7 and rightfully so. LeBron was not candid about declaring himself the best player in the world and while it’s cocky, he’s definitely right. You don’t want to leave this series up to one game where LeBron can impose his will and single handedly win the championship.
Here’s our instant recap:
1st Quarter
After all this talk about big men in this series, Timofey Mozgov scored the first bucket of the game. Draymond Green and Steph Curry both missed their first shot attempts and trailed by three early on. Klay Thompson was the first to get the Warriors on the board, but they started 1 for 4 and the Q was loving it. Curry and Green both hit buckets near the rim to cut the lead to one. The Warriors missed a lot of shots, otherwise they would be up in this game. After a time out, Curry hit a triple from the corner, giving the Dubs an 11-8 lead. From there, the Warriors started to knock them down. Andre Iguodala hit back to back jumpers to give the Warriors a six point lead. A Green triple followed by one from Iguodala as well put the Warriors up by eight. The Cavs managed to score during that stretch, otherwise this would have been a double digit lead. Ezeli got a put back dunk and Barnes hit another triple to put the Warriors up by 13 to end the first quarter.
Steph using the glass. https://t.co/LGM0ObeKXx @warriorsworld
— Alex Torres (@alextorresww) June 17, 2015
2nd Quarter
Shaun Livingston started the quarter by fouling James Jones on a three point attempt, so that cut the lead to 10. LeBron came right back and hit a difficult corner three to make it seven, but Leandro Barbosa answered immediately to make the lead 10 again. It was a sloppy start to the second as the Cavs looked to regain some momentum. The Warriors went cold, luckily for the Warriors, they only lost four points from the lead. The Warriors couldn’t get nothing going offensively, after Tristan Thompson free throw, the lead was now five. Draymond Green hit a bucket to put the Warriors up by seven, but Shumpert hit a jumper of his own. Barnes then hit a triple to make it eight and the Warriors finally had some rhythm on offense. The Cavs were in this game because they kept getting bailed out by the refs. Mozgov hit four straight free throws to make the Warrior lead six. LeBron scored six points down the stretch to help the Cavs cut the lead to two. The Warriors didn’t execute and now the Cavs went into the half with momentum.
Cavs 21 free throws Warriors 4 free throws 🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮🚮
— Beke (@BekeGSW) June 17, 2015
3rd Quarter
The Cavs started where they picked up in the second quarter and scored the first four points of the second half, which gave them the lead. The Cavs turned it over and Draymond attempted to put Tristan on a poster, but it resulted in a Barnes triple. Iguodala then found open space to get an easy dunk, which was followed by a Draymond triple to give them a six point advantage. Four straight points from James put some pressure on the Warriors, but they kept their lead steady. Iggy scored three points and Livingston hit two buckets of his own to keep the lead at 10. Festus Ezeli then made his presence felt by scoring six straight points, including a monster put back slam and the Warriors were up 14. LeBron came right back with a bucket to stop the bleeding, but Ezeli hit another two free throws and a Green bucket got it up to 15 again. A Mozgov bucket made it 12 as both teams the entered the fourth quarter.
Festus Ezeli with the MONSTER putback. https://t.co/9MMS86fXRc @warriorsworld
— Alex Torres (@alextorresww) June 17, 2015
4th Quarter
Barbosa scored a quick bucket to start the final period, but the Cavs came charging right back. Cleveland went on a 7-0 run thanks to four points from LeBron. The Cavs were right back in it with the lead now down to only seven points. After a Warrior timeout, Curry hit a triple to give them some cushion, but J.R. Smith hit a three of his own to get it back to seven. Iguodala has been hitting clutch shots all series long, so he made a three. Cleveland got a layup from Mozgov. The teams were trading blows, but back-to-back triples from the Splash Brothers got the Warriors up by 14 once again. You could feel the arena was getting nervous. The Warriors were six minutes away from winning this championship. The Warriors got another clutch triple from Iggy to get the lead to 15 after two free throws from Shumpert. The only negative was that Klay Thompson fouled out with about four minutes left in the quarter. The refs were making some suspect calls, but the Cavs essentially gave up. The Warriors were going to win this game and win their first title in 40 years.
Livingston with his own putback slam. https://t.co/50G8gEOKoT @warriorsworld
— Alex Torres (@alextorresww) June 17, 2015