NBA Finals: Warriors win Game 2
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP and KTVU) - Warriors win Game 2, scoring a total of 132 points, with the Cavs scoring 113.
Stephen Curry had a triple double with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Kevin Durant scored 33 and the Golden State Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals with a 132-113 victory in Game 2 on Sunday night.
The big nights from the former MVPs made coach Steve Kerr a winner in his return to the bench after a more than six-week absence following complications from back surgery.
This marks the second straight year Golden State won the first two games of the Finals. Cleveland rallied to win last year's series in seven games.
LeBron James had 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists to tie Magic Johnson's record with his eighth career Finals triple-double.
It was just the second time in NBA playoff history two players had triple-doubles in the same game. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) and Walt Frazier did it in 1970.
LeBron James has another NBA Finals triple-double.
Golden State is in full control of Game 2 anyway.
Stephen Curry is 14 for 14 from the line and has 27 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, Kevin Durant has 24 points and the Warriors lead Cleveland 102-88 going into the fourth quarter.
A potential issue for the Warriors down the stretch: Draymond Green has five fouls.
Klay Thompson has bounced back in a big way, scoring 17 so far for Golden State.
James has 27 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds -- his eighth Finals triple-double, tying Magic Johnson's NBA record.
James' teams are 4-3 in his previous Finals triple-double nights. He had one for Miami in 2011, another in 2012 and two in 2013. He then had two for Cleveland in 2015, one last year and his Sunday one is No. 8.
Golden State is up by double digits again, 83-73 after the first 3 minutes of the third quarter in Game 2 of the NBA Finals
A big sequence got the Warriors there: Kevin Love made a 3-pointer to get Cleveland within five, but Draymond Green answered with a 3 for the Warriors and then Stephen Curry sliced his way through LeBron James and Love for a layup.
Curry is up to 22 points for the Warriors, with seven already in the third quarter. LeBron James is up to 20 points, 11 assists and six rebounds for the Cavaliers.
The Warriors are shooting 55 percent so far. Golden State has won 106 consecutive games when shooting better than 50 percent, a streak going back to November 2014.
At halftime, Warriors lead 67-64. The Warriors led by as many as 12 points, but LeBron James has been his usual outstanding self in the first two quarters.
James has 18 points, 10 assists and six rebounds already. Kevin Love has 15 and Kyrie Irving scored 10 for Cleveland.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant both have 15 points for the Warriors. Curry didn't score in the second quarter, however. And the Warriors have 13 turnovers already, which the Cavs have turned into 17 points.
This is only the fifth Finals game -- and the first since 1967 -- where both teams had at least 64 points at the half.
It's a bold move by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who's in his first game back after an 11-game absence with health issues. Kerr returned Green to the lineup by the midpoint of the second quarter, and with Cleveland steadily cutting into what was a double-digit Golden State lead.
Golden State has committed twice as many turnovers already in Game 2 of the NBA Finals than it did in the entirety of Game 1 -- eight so far in this game, four in all of the series opener on Thursday.
Stephen Curry has tied Paul Pierce's NBA Finals record with 10 free throws made in a quarter.
Curry leads everybody with 15 points, and the Warriors became the sixth team in Finals history to score at least 40 points in an opening quarter.
In the first quarter, LeBron James attacked. And Game 2 of the NBA Finals is starting like a 100-meter dash.
It was Cleveland 14, Golden State 13 after just the first 4:13 of the first quarter.
The Cavaliers said they wanted to play at a faster pace, and James is setting the tone by getting to the rim four times already.
Kevin Love started 4 for 4 for the Cavs, but was briefly shaken up and seemed to be favoring his left side.
The best early sign for the Cavaliers: They made their first five shots -- three by Love, the other two by a driving-and-attacking James.
The best early sign for the Warriors: Klay Thompson, who was 3 for 16 in Game 1, connected on two consecutive possessions.
A the end of the first quarter, Warriors lead 40-34.
Steve Kerr is coaching Game 2 of the NBA Finals, he confirmed shortly before the game Sunday.
Kerr had been out for most of the playoffs due to chronic pain stemming from complications from a back surgery.
He said he feels more like he did during the regular season and hopes to coach the rest of the NBA Finals.
He has missed 11 games. The last game he coached was game 2 of the first round against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Warriors lead the Finals 1-0 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.