The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors playing against each other is a major event, regardless whether it’s the regular season or the playoffs. The two teams go at it for the second and final time this regular season, facing off on Monday in Golden State.
Cavaliers vs. Warriors 2017 live stream: Preview, start time, TV schedule and how to watch online
Cleveland and Golden State have a rematch of Christmas (and the NBA Finals, of course).
You may remember that the Cavaliers got the best of Golden State in their last meeting, a Christmas matchup that featured a 14-point Cleveland comeback and a game-winning Kyrie Irving turnaround jumper. That game highlighted Irving as the Warriors’ Grim Reaper, with two game-winning shots in the last two matchups against them. Of course, the other one was in Game 7.
These regular season games involving the best rivalry in sports don’t really matter. We all know that, with Cleveland and Golden State both likely to face each other in the NBA Finals yet again. Still, we’ll never turn down a matchup between the two — no matter when or where it happens.
TIME: 8 p.m. Eastern
LOCATION: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
CHANNEL: TNT
STREAM: WatchTNT
Forget Harden or Westbrook. The Cavaliers might have the MVP.
Sure, LeBron James may be taking it easy this season. He’s still better than nearly anyone else in the league. Paul Flannery and John Gonzalez made the argument that he’s the league’s MVP in last week’s Drive & Kick podcast.
The scariest thing is James’s three-point shooting. You always have to wonder if a three-point attempt is him taking a shot he knows he can hit, or him taking a shot just for the hell of it. But James is knocking down 37.8 percent of his threes this year, and hitting damn near 50 percent on catch-and-shoot jumpers. His jump shot is more consistent and dangerous than ever, and that’s a terrifying development.
We’ve gotta talk about it — the Warriors keep blowing leads.
Yes, we all know about the 3-1 lead. But in the Christmas game between these two, like we mentioned, Golden State lost a 14-point edge. And then on top of that, the Warriors fell to the Grizzlies about a week ago despite leading by 24 points in the second half.
What’s ridiculous is when you realize those are the Warriors’ last two losses — a game more than a week ago, and a defeat on Christmas. They’re otherwise undefeated since Dec. 10. Maybe Golden State’s problem is that it leads by double-digits in nearly every game, so if it loses, of course it involves blowing a large lead. But hey, it’s good for the jokes.
Kyle Korver makes Cleveland better, even if it hasn’t happened yet.
In two games, Korver missed all five of his three-point attempts. On Friday against the Kings, he finally went off — four threes in six attempts, his 18 points in 25 minutes helping the Cavaliers blow out the Kings.
Korver is a great addition regardless. He immediately helps the Cleveland bench, which has been stretched thin due to J.R. Smith’s injury and has put way too many minutes on James and Irving. It also gives Cleveland another deadeye shooting threat, which is never a bad thing to have. Nabbing Korver, especially for what they gave up, was genius general managing. If Korver hits a huge shot against the Warriors, you’ll see why.
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