Golden State’s overwhelming 110-77 victory Sunday over Cleveland in the NBA Finals put the Warriors halfway to a repeat title and left Cavaliers superstar LeBron James searching for answers.
Draymond Green scored 28 points, NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry added 18 and Klay Thompson netted 17 to spark Golden State to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which shifts to Cleveland for game three Wednesday and game four Friday.
“To hold this team to 77 points, that’s not easy to do, but we really locked in,” Green said. “The toughest part is going to Cleveland. We’ve got to go in with a higher focus than we’ve had.”
But only three teams in NBA history have overcome a 2-0 deficit to win the finals - the 1969 Boston Celtics, 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and the 2006 Miami Heat. “It’s a fabulous position with everybody playing their best,” NBA scoring champion Curry said. “We’ve got to keep our focus and not forget how we got here.”
Combined with their 104-89 romp in the opener, the Warriors have produced the largest two-game combined victory margin to open an NBA Finals, six more points than the old mark of 42 by the 1950 Rochester Royals and 1961 Boston Celtics.
“I’m not surprised we won, but yeah, the margin, nobody would have guessed that coming in,” Curry said. “But every game is different. Game three is going to be totally different, and we need to play like that for sure.”
The Warriors stretched their overall win streak against Cleveland to seven games, including the last three of last year’s finals, two more this season and two more in this championship series.

‘They beat us pretty good’
James led Cleveland with 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assists but also made seven turnovers. James was 9-0 in prior playoff game twos after his club lost the opener and he has never lost so many in a row to any rival. “I’m not disappointed in our guys or frustrated,” James said. “We’ve just got to do better at all facets of the game, offensively and defensively, physically and mentally.
“We didn’t beat them at anything. Even when we had an early lead, they beat us to 50-50 balls, got extra possessions, extra tip-ins. They beat us pretty good.” The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player is in his sixth finals in a row and seventh overall but has won only two titles. For the first time in his career, James was kept scoreless in the first quarter of an NBA Finals game. “We have to figure out how we can be better. We have to figure out how we can help one another,” James said. “We definitely have to figure out how to get more guys involved.”
Golden State, which set an NBA record with 73 wins this season, matched the combined season and playoff win record of 87 set by the Chicago Bulls, improving to 50-3 overall at home, including 11-1 in the playoffs. Curry was 7-of-11 from 3-point range while Thompson was 6-of-13 from beyond the arc and Green knocked down 5-of-8 3-pointers.
 
Love’s status uncertain
The Cavaliers lost forward Kevin Love early in the third quarter to dizziness. Love had taken a hard elbow to the back of the head from Harrison Barnes in the second quarter. He was put into NBA concussion protocols and his status is day to day.
 “Losing one of our top three players is always going to be a big impact,” said Cavs coach Tyronn Lue. “At halftime he showed no symptoms. When we came back out in the third quarter, I could see in a timeout he looked kind of woozy. He went back on the floor for a second and then we had to get him off the floor.”
Kyrie Irving cut Golden State’s lead to 52-46 to open the third quarter but a 17-7 Warriors’ run followed as Curry, Green and Thompson each hit 3-pointers and a Green layup capped the spurt.
James fired an airball midway into the frustrating period while Curry was on the bench much of the time, the 3-point record setter laughing and smiling as teammates scored. Led by Green and Thompson, Golden State ripped off a 19-7 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth for an 89-62 edge, sealing Cleveland’s fate. Green scored nine of his 18 first-half points in a 20-2 Warriors’ run that helped Golden State to a 52-44 half-time lead.
Before the tip-off there was a moment of silence in memory of Muhammad Ali, the iconic boxer and human rights champion who died Friday.

Warriors star Curry swaps jerseys with Brazil’s Neymar
NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry swapped jerseys with Brazilian football star Neymar on Sunday after Curry helped the Golden State Warriors rout Cleveland 110-77 in the NBA Finals. NBA scoring champion Curry made the exchange shortly after the defending NBA champions seized a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven championship series, which resumes Wednesday in Cleveland. Curry’s Brazilian teammates, Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao, also received autographed jerseys from the 24-year-old Brazilian striker, a spectator for the blowout of LeBron James and company. “It’s the first time we’ve met,” Curry said. “L.B. and Varejao talk about him all the time. But obviously a star in the soccer world, and such skill and kind of grace when he’s out there on the field, so he’s fun to watch.”
Neymar had been in the Rose Bowl on Saturday along such Hollywood celebrities as Justin Bieber and Jamie Foxx to watch Brazil play Ecuador to a goal-less draw in Copa America Centenario, the special 100th anniversary edition of the South American football championship being staged in US stadiums. Neymar is skipping the Copa to focus on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August, where he’ll try to help Brazil claim one of the few trophies it lacks in football, Olympic gold.
Curry proudly displayed Neymar’s number 11 uniform while the Brazilian smiled as she showed off Curry’s number 30 on a yellow jersey. Curry has also exchanged jerseys with Argentine star Lionel Messi, Neymar’s Barcelona teammate. That swap was engineered via social media, but it was fun for curry to see Neymar in person. “I know he’s a basketball head,” Curry said.
“I saw him dribbling two basketballs the other day trying to mimic my two-ball routine. I told him I appreciate that and he doesn’t want to see me with a soccer ball because I wouldn’t know what to do. It’s pretty cool to know we’ve got fans all over and obviously it’s inspiring what he does on the soccer field.”
Curry missed a chance to catch up with Messi, whose team face Chile in their Copa opener in nearby Santa Clara, California, on Monday. “Obviously schedules didn’t work out,” Curry said.
“But he’s got business to take care of, so good luck to him.”