Steph Curry, Warriors finish off Cavs in fourth quarter

CLEVELAND — Stephen Curry still knows how to close out the Cavs. The Warriors' star point guard dropped 40 points, 20 in the fourth quarter when Golden State outscored Cleveland by 28 on its way to a 104-89 win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday night. "They're a really good team and they do what they do really well," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the Warriors. "Steph Curry is a hell of a basketball player. The shots that he was making weren't easy shots. They know how to create them and obviously he has the skill set to make them. Draymond (Green) and him have an unbelievable synergy and they know how to take advantage of every little thing." Darius Garland led the Cavs with 25 points while Dean Wade had a strong all-around night with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists. The pair carried the scoring load for the team in the first half, combining for 28 of the Cavs 54 points as they built a three-point halftime lead. "I think we played really well the last few nights," Garland said. "It wasn't the outcome that we wanted, but we played pretty good as a unit. Especially with all the bodies down, the back-to-back and the travel with two really good teams. I think we did pretty well. It's just a next man up mentality and as you can see a lot of heavy minutes. I think we did pretty good though." The Cavs (9-8) were missing a number of key players, particularly in the frontcourt. Evan Mobley for the second-straight game after he sprained his right elbow Monday, Jarrett Allen missed his third-straight game with a non-COVID illness and Lauri Markkanen missed his ninth-straight game after being placed in the league's health and safety protocols Nov. 3. But Kevin Love and Ed Davis did a fine job anchoring the post. Davis made his second-straight start — he had played just seven minutes in three appearances prior to Wednesday's game against the Nets — and again gave a strong effort. He had 13 rebounds by halftime and finished with a game-high 14 to go with seven points. He had 11 rebounds and six points against Brooklyn on Wednesday. Love added 17 points and seven rebounds in his second game back after recovering from COVID-19, which came just after Mobley suffered his injury. Love was particularly strong in the third, scoring 11 points as Cleveland built a 13-point lead "They're veteran bigs who understand the game," Bickerstaff said. "They don't overcomplicate the game. They keep it simple, they know exactly who they are and they know how to impact wins. They did a good job of going out and doing that." Golden State (13-2) has been without one-half of its Splash Brothers duo for quite some time as Klay Thompson missed the last two seasons with a torn ACL and Achilles, but Curry was more than enough for the Cavs on Thursday. He opened the fourth with three-straight 3-pointers and jumpstarted the Warriors to a 17-0 run, giving them an 85-81 lead with 6:30 to play. Garland did his best to keep Cleveland in it, trading buckets with Golden State on back-to-back possessions, but the Cavs offense sputtered to just eight points as the Warriors ran away. RUBIO HONORED Prior to the game, Cleveland point guard Ricky Rubio received the offseason NBA Cares Community Assist Award, recognizing his continued efforts to improve the lives of children and their families impacted by cancer. In April, Rubio launched "I Am Ready," a virtual program to help ease the experiences of pediatric cancer patients undergoing radiation treatments. It will be delivered to 1,000 youth patients throughout the United States during the NBA season. NEXT UP Cleveland hosts Brooklyn at 7 p.m. on Monday while Golden State travels to Detroit tonight. Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.