The Golden State Warriors took care of their home-court and got a 122-103 win on Sunday night to take a 2-0 series lead in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Stephen Curry led the way with a game-high 33 points. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson added 26 and 20 points respectively.
LeBron James came one rebound shy of recording a triple-double finishing with 29 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the third quarter to take second place on the NBA Finals all-time scoring list. He now only trails the logo Jerry West for most points in the NBA Finals ever.
The series now switches over to the east coast and will resume on Wednesday night in Cleveland for Game 3.
Here are three takeaways from Game 2:
Stephen Curry
The Cavaliers simply don't have anyone who can stay with Stephen Curry. Curry is also much more equipped to handle the physical style of defence that the Cavs have used against him in years past.
Curry set an NBA Finals record hitting nine threes en route to his game-high 33 points. He also added seven rebounds and eight assists. It felt like Curry was patient and picked his spots - he looked comfortable and didn't force any shots until he got hot in the fourth quarter.
The Cavs are going to have to find another way of slowing down Curry because being physical and trying to get in his head just isn't going to cut it anymore.
Running out of gas...
The Cavs did a great job of punching with the Warriors in the third period. They outscored Golden State 34-31 and put themselves in position to try and steal one on the road but in the fourth they ran out of gas.
The Cavaliers are 8-32 (25%) from 3-point off LeBron James passes in the #NBAFinals, including 5-16 (31%) when the attempt is uncontested. pic.twitter.com/nDdxE0YuTR
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 4, 2018
After shooting 4-for-9 from long range in the 3rd, the Cavs' tired legs showed in the fourth as they shot just 1-for-8 from three. They managed to put up just 23 points in the final frame and against an all-time great offence the Cavs will have to score more than that in a quarter to stay in the game.
Feeding off the home crowd back in Cleveland should help the Cavs finish stronger in Games 3 and 4.
JaVale McGee
JaVale McGee has seen very little minutes in the 2018 playoffs, but when he got the call to start Game 2 he was ready to go. McGee finished with 12 points going a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. He gave the Warriors an outlet when Cleveland tried to trap the pick-and-roll, something they didn't have in Game 1 and something they could've used in the Houston series.
While he didn't register any blocks and his rebounding number was poor, McGee does have the ability to protect the rim and discourage the Cavs from attacking the paint.
The Cavaliers are going to have to counter with something to either match McGee or force him out of the game or this series will end in a four-game sweep.
