The JV Warriors beat the Cavs on the road 120-114, are .500 for the umpteenth time this season
The Warriors sit most of their starters, shoot 53.5% from three, JaMychal Green and Jonathan Kuminga return, and the Warriors escape with a road win in Cleveland
Not since the final days of Barack Obama’s presidency on December 25, 2016, had the Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tonight, with Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry all missing the game to load manage, it seemed that streak would come to an end. But despite missing most of their adults and nearly handing the Cavs control of the game late in the third and fourth quarters, the JV Warriors emerged victorious against a Cavaliers team that was whose only notable absences were Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio.
Steve Kerr’s Warriors were at the very least, partially reinforced compared to recent games as JaMychal Green and Jonathan Kuminga made their return from multi-week absences. The load-management nature of tonight’s game also made it likely that Patrick Baldwin Jr. would receive frontcourt minutes — Steve Kerr played more frontcourt players in tonight’s second game of a back-to-back than he did during the Warriors’ maddening loss to the Celtics last night.
The Cavs, like the Celtics last night, have one of the bigger frontcourt rotations in the NBA and effectively start two centers — Even Mobley and Jarrett Allen — in their frontcourt. Despite some early first-quarter bullying by Allen and Mobley, the Warriors actually outrebounded the Cavs tonight 54 to 41. Kevon Looney’s 17 rebounds were more than Allen and Mobley combined for and even JaMychal Green got more rebounds (8) than either of the Cavs starters did despite playing just 16 minutes to the 30+ of the Cavs’ starting frontcourt.
The Warriors’ rebounding numbers are surprising but they weren’t the obvious story of tonight’s game. What probably stuck out to you as you watched was the Warriors’ barrage of three-point shooting. On 43 attempts, the Warriors made 23 of their shots from deep, and Kevon Looney was the only Warrior who did not make a three tonight. Jordan Poole led the Warriors with 32 points on 23 shots including a pretty efficient 5/12 night from deep, which led the team in attempts, but they also got four threes from Anthony Lamb, three each from Donte DiVincenzo, JaMychal Green, and Ty Jerome, two apiece from Jonathan Kuminga and Patrick Baldwin Jr., and one from Moses Moody.
It’s worth noting, however, that Jordan Poole made his first three shots from deep in as many minutes and shot 2/9 from three for the rest of the game. As has often been the case this season, Poole had a handful of ugly misses that did not even come close to the rim that may as well have counted as turnovers. And of course, Poole tallied five turnovers tonight and got blocked a few times at the rim, but he was a much-needed engine of shot creation, especially when he made it a point to seek out mid-range jumpers.
Poole’s backcourt counterpart, Ty Jerome, did not play in last night’s game and gave the Warriors a team-high 41 minutes, including a 14-minute stretch without rest from the final two minutes of the third quarter until the end of the game. In second unit minutes without Jordan Poole during the second quarter, Jerome scored 6 points on signature floaters; during the third-quarter run of 5 straight threes that should have put the game out of reach for good, Jerome hit two of those shots from deep; Jerome scored or assisted on 10 of the Warriors’ first points in the fourth quarter just after they let the Cavs back into the game; and ultimately, it was Jerome who hit the three late in the game to put the Warriors up 7 after their 10-point lead dwindled to just four points. Jerome finished the game with 22 points on 13 shots with 8 assists and just one turnover. I think he’s still a likely DNP with everybody healthy, but his play has earned him a place on an NBA roster somewhere.
That the Warriors shot 53.5% from three and still barely won would bother me more on a night when the Warriors’ adults were playing, but tonight, I’ll take it. The Cavs shot 42.4% from three on 33 attempts, but their three-point makes were limited to just four players: Caris LeVert, Cedi Osman, Darius Garland, and Kevin Love. With Donovan Mitchell out, Isaac Okoro started at the SF and pushed LeVert down to the off-guard while Raul Neto and Cedi Osman were pressed into heavier minutes. Okoro was mostly a non-factor and while Neto didn’t provide much value on offense, he did a great job of pissing off Jordan Poole.
The burden of shot creation for the Cavs fell mostly on Garland and LeVert who scored 31 points and 22 points on 25 and 16 shots respectively. The Cavs’ third-leading scorer, Evan Mobley, took 12 shots and frequently found himself matched up with Jonathan Kuminga. That matchup was particularly interesting to me and I linked to a few possessions that you can see below:
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