Cavaliers look to turn their season around against the Golden State Warriros
A wretched dip in form, which saw the Golden State Warriors drop 16 of their last 19 away games, seems like a distant memory as the Warriors take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at the ORACLE Arena.
Having won five of their last eight matches, including a remarkable comeback win over the New Orleans Hornets in their last encounter, the Warriors will look to keep their momentum flowing against a Cleveland side that has lost eight-straight games. The
Wine and the Gold have been spineless in their recent performances, and have lost seven in a row coming into Friday night’s showdown.
The Warriors though have plenty of reasons to be happy about heading into Friday night’s match-up. Not only are they starting to click defensively, but also for the first time in nearly three years, the Warriors do not have a single player out due to injury
or illness.
Warriors forward David Lee was excited about playing with a fit squad, he said, "The best opportunity we're going to have is with numbers. Now we can wear teams down and be up-tempo and play the way we want to play, knowing that when you get tired, somebody
can come in for you."
No team has played more away games than Golden State this season, who have toiled on the road 21 times thus far, winning only six times. The winds of change however, are closer now as the Warriors will play 18 of their next 22 games on home turf, where they
boast an 8-6 record. Meeting the downtrodden Cavaliers first-up might just prove to be the icing on the cake.
The powerful roster will also spur on Golden State’s maverick star Monta Ellis. Third in the list of the NBA’s top-scorers with an average of 25.4 points per game, Ellis, offered further proof of his brilliance in a nerve-wrecking encounter against the Jazz
on Wednesday.
Trailing by 10 points early in the fourth quarter and down for all counts, Ellis sparked the second biggest comeback in his franchise’s history. The prolific sharp-shooter scored 12 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors ended
a five-match road skid with a 2-3 result. To make matters more intimidating for Cleveland, Ellis was the top scorer for the Warriors with 26.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4 steals last season, in a two- match stretch.
Spearheading the Warriors with Ellis will be inspirational guard Stephen Curry. Curry’s availability after a six-match injury lay-off has been instrumental in reviving Golden State this season. After posting 17.5 points per game against Cleveland last season,
he will be rearing to have a go again.
The road for the Cavaliers has been completely downhill. After starting the season with a 7-9 record, the Cavs have gone in a tailspin and have lost all but one of their last 19 encounters. Their road endeavours have especially been listless, losing 14 straight
by an average of 14.8 points.
Cavaliers Coach Byron Scott told reporters, "Every time I think we're taking a step forward, we're taking two steps back. That's frustrating for any coach."
However, despite their lacklustre record, the Cavaliers boast a formidable offensive battery, with former Warrior Antawn Jamison leading the pack. Jamison leads Cleveland with 16.1 points per game this season. With so much already lost in the season, the
Clevelanders will be hungry to resurrect their fortunes, as they open a five-game Western Conference road trip.
The one thing that will definitely spur the Cavs going into the encounter is their track record versus the Warriors. Cleveland has prevailed in four straight games at Oakland. Their exploits though, came when LeBron James' used to honour their ranks, and
his 31.3 points per game certainly had quite a bit to do with that.
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