Cavaliers at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are attempting to win their second straight
NBA championship on Monday but will have to play Game 5 without
suspended forward Draymond Green. The Warriors hold a 3-1 series lead
over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals but Green won't
be inside the arena after the NBA issued a flagrant 1 foul on Sunday for
a Game 4 incident in which he swung and hit Cleveland forward LeBron
James in the groin.
Green is forced to sit out because it is his fourth flagrant foul of the postseason and coach Steve Kerr didn't publicly say who would start in his place and he also sidestepped a question regarding whether he was disappointed in Green. "That's just something that stays within the team. It's not anything I'm going to comment on," Kerr told reporters at Sunday's press conference. "I'm disappointed for him that he can't play in a big game. But the ruling has been made, and we've got to move on." No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA Finals and the Cavaliers lost the first two games of the series at Oracle Arena by an average of 24 points and know it will take a supreme effort to force a Game 6. "We've already got to take a flight back home anyways, so we might as well come home with a win and play on our home floor again," James told reporters. "Being a confident bunch we feel like the chips have been stacked up against us all year anyway."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ABC
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: James is averaging 24.8 points, 11 rebounds and 8.3 assists in the series but those numbers are being overshadowed by a truly ugly stat - an average of 5.8 turnovers. "Some of them were attack turnovers," James said of his second seven-miscue contest of the series in Game 4. "Trying to squeeze the ball into tight places as a quarterback would, and I'm OK with those. But some of those that are careless, I'm not OK with that." Point guard Kyrie Irving had 34 points in Game 4 for his second consecutive 30-point performance and he is averaging 25 points in the series.
ABOUT THE WARRIORS: Two-time MVP Stephen Curry broke out of a three-game slumber in a big way with 38 points and seven 3-pointers in the 108-97 victory in Game 4. Curry averaged just 16 points in the first three games and didn't even have a 20-point outing before regaining his form and setting the tone for the road victory. "He's Steph Curry. He's the MVP for a reason," Kerr told reporters. "He doesn't have the size and the strength to dominate a game physically, so he has to dominate with his skill, and that's not an easy thing to do because your shot sometimes isn't going to go in."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have won 88 total games, surpassing the mark of 87 previously set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.
2. Cleveland PF Kevin Love (concussion) had 11 points in 25 minutes off the bench in Game 4 after sitting out Game 3.
3. Golden State set an NBA Finals record with 17 3-pointers in Game 4.