The Golden State Warriors evened the NBA Finals at 2-2 with a decisive 103-82 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night in Cleveland. Golden State got out to a 7 point lead after the 1st quarter 31-24. They were able to add 5 points to that lead going into halftime by outscoring the Cavaliers 23-18 in the 2nd quarter. Golden State took a 54-42 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cleveland came out and knocked 6 point off of the Warriors lead outscoring Golden State 28-22, but still found themselves trailing 76-70 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Cavaliers were unable to keep their run going into the 4th quarter and appeared to run out of gas as Golden State pulled away easily adding 15 points to their lead outscoring Cleveland 27-12 in the 4th quarter to get to that 21 point 103=82 victory. Golden State made a change i their tarting line up as Andrew Bogut was removed from the starting line up and Andre Iguodala was inserted into Bogut’s spot. Iguodala reciprocated by tying for the team lead in points with Stephen Curry. Iguodala and Curry both scored 22 points; Draymond Green scored 17 points and Harrison Barnes also scored in double figures for Golden State with 14 points. Iguodala also tied for the team lead in rebounds with Green and Shaum Livingston. All three players grabbed 8 rebounds in Game 4 while Green tied Curry for the team lead in assists with 6. It ended up being Timofey Mozgov not LeBron James leading the Cavaliers in scoring with 28 points. James did contribute 20 points, but was 7 of 22 from the field and 5 of 10 from the free throw line while stumbling into a cameraman after being fouled by Bogut. To be fair LeBron was having a bad shooting night before he went tumbling into the first row. Tristan Thompson added 12 points while Matthew Dellavedova scored 10 points, but was a terrible 3 of 14 from the field. Thompson grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers while James added 12 rebounds and Mozgov also had double digit rebounds grabbing 10. James just missed a triple double by 2 assists as he led the Cavaliers with 8 assists. You can add Iman Shumoert and J.R. Smith to the list of Cavaliers who had bad shooting nights in Game 4. Shumpert went 2 of 9 from the field while Smith made just 2 of the 12 shots he took and missed all 8 of the 3-point field goals he attempted The Cavaliers shot 33% from the floor and 14.8% from behind the 3-point line compared to 46.8% from the field and 40% from behind the 3-point line for the Warriors. The series returns to California even at 2 and you have to ask; did the Cavaliers just have a bad shooting night or did the best defensive team (Golden State) in the NBA figure something out?
I mentioned that James went tumbling into the first row of seats under the basket and ran head first into a cameraman. James ended up giving himself a couple of nice cuts on his head which he did bleed from. What I didn’t understand was why wasn’t he removed from the game and tested for a concussion? If an NFL team had left a player on the field who had just hit his head like that the mainstream media would be out with it’s pitchforks and torches calling for everyone involved to be fired. Was it because James is the best player in the game and there was no chance of the Cavaliers making any kind of run with him out of the game. In the post game press conference James mentioned that he didn’t go through the concussion protocol, but said he had a headache from hitting the camera and cameraman. Now I’m not a doctor or in the medical profession, but I thought that a headache was a symptom of a concussion. To be honest the entire James tumble looked like a flop until he crashed into the cameraman. I’m thinking that James was trying to get a Flagrant 2 foul called on Bogut and wanted to add a little something to the call and didn’t know were he was on the floor. I doubt James will even show up on any kind of injury report for Game 5.
Speaking of Game 5’s the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lighting take the ice around 7:00 p.m. for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals with the series tied 2-2. Since this is the NHL, we never heard what Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop’s injury was or is, but it’s being reported that Bishop is “possible” for Game 5. Bishop did not practice Friday and will be evaluated Saturday morning before a decision is made. Tampa Bay’s coach Jon Cooper said that Bishop’s absence from practice was planned when the decision was made to remove him from the lineup for Game 4 on Wednesday. Bishop left Game 2 and did not play in Game 4. He stopped 36 of 38 shots in Game 3, but noticeably lacked mobility and did not leave the crease to play the puck with his normal frequency. Rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop in Game 2 and made five saves in the final 7:41 for his first Stanley Cup Playoffs victory. Vasilevskiy, 20, made 17 saves in a 2-1 loss in Game 4, his first NHL postseason start. Vasilevsky would start in goal for Tampa Bay if Bishop is unable to play in Game 5. Tonight’s game is very important to both teams as the winner of Game 5 should win the Stanley Cup. Neither team has won two games in a row in this series and if that holds to form the winner of Game 5 will win it all. Patrick Kane got his 1st point of the series; an assist in Game 4, but even with his scoring slump he’s still the Blackhawks points leader for the playoffs. Kane is one of the best players in the NHL and knows how to score in the playoffs. In 114 Stanley Cup Playoff games, he has 112 points, including 47 goals. This postseason, he has 10 goals, tied with Jonathan Toews for the team lead, and 21 points in 21 games. In the Final, he was held without a shot in Game 2, but has had three shots in each of the other three games and has been creating chances despite playing with several different linemates in the four games. Did Game 4;s assist get Kane out of his slump? If it did and he’s ready to break out it could bring the 3rd Stanley Cup in 6 seasons to Chicago.
The Houston Astros had lost 7 games in a row and where coming off of a series were they where swept by the Chicago White Sox. Thing didn’t look like they were going to get any better last night (Friday) as “The King” Felix Hernandez was on the mound as the Astros opened their series against the Seattle Mariners. Not only did the Astros end their losing streak they rocked Hernandez. “The King” lasted just 1/3rd of an inning meaning he only got 1 out. Hernandez gave up 5 hits, 8 runs; they were all earned, he walked 2, struck out 1 and gave up 2 home runs. Luis Valbuena and Jason Castro were the Astros who homered off of Hernandez. Last night looks like the worst start of Hernandez’s career and he saw his ERA jump to 3.38 on the season. After getting 8 runs off of Hernandez the Houston offense slowed down, but they didn’t need any more as they costed to a 10-0 victory over Seattle. Brett Oberholtzer (1-1) got the win for Houston pitching 8 innings. Oberholtzer gave up just 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5. The Astros other 2 runs were scored on solo home runs. Carlos Correa hit his 2nd home run of the season and Chris Carter hit his 11th home run of the season. The win improves the Astros record to 35-27 with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Texas Rangers in the A.L. West. The disappointing Mariners fell to 27-34 and are 7 1/2 games behind the 1st place Astros.
So how was your week?
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