CLEVELAND -- It's hard to tell which should get most of the credit, the resilience and depth of the Warriors, or the noted ineptitude of the host Cavaliers. Either way, Golden State's 108-95 win Tuesday has a benchmark vibe.
The Warriors beat the Cavaliers despite not having three starters and a key reserve. No Andrew Bogut (left ankle). No Stephen Curry (right ankle). No Harrison Barnes (left knee). No Carl Landry (left shoulder).
As it turned out, the Warriors didn't need four of their top eight players.
"It was very easy to chalk one up and say we were short-handed," Warriors coach Mark Jackson. "We had every excuse to walk out of here with a loss. I challenged them, and they stepped up to the challenge."
Klay Thompson took advantage of the opportunity, lighting up Quicken Loans Arena for a career-high 32 points on 13-of-24 shooting. The Warriors got another good game from point guard Jarrett Jack, who totaled 26 points and 12 assists.
The Warriors defense took care of the rest. The Cavaliers were held to 42.9 percent shooting. Cleveland star guard Kyrie Irving, who was questionable with flu-like symptoms, managed just 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
The Warriors have lauded their depth and fight all season. Tuesday's win didn't have the drama of the road win over the Miami Heat, nor was it as eyebrow-raising as the win over Oklahoma City. But when looking for evidence that the Warriors are for real, that they are
game for a fight in this playoff quest, this game will stand out."Everybody stepped up," forward David Lee said after totaling 20 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and two steals. "Coach said it before the game that we could have chosen to mail this one in, last game of the road trip. Instead, we got a contribution from pretty much everyone who came into the game. ... We are all on the same page, and no matter who's out there, we're still going to play Warriors basketball."
Not that the Cavaliers were a worthy foe. Cleveland owns the third-worst record in the NBA and is also missing key players (big man Anderson Varejao and guard Daniel Gibson).
Still, it was a win the Warriors needed to have. Golden State salvaged a split of its four-game trip, which began with an ugly loss at Chicago and a tough defeat at Milwaukee.
"It's a big momentum swing going back home to Oakland," Thompson said. "We needed to come in here and get this win. We couldn't go 1-3 on this trip. We are a good road team, but even better at home."
The Warriors also stayed a half-game above Denver for the No. 5 seed in the West. Perhaps more important, Golden State inched closer to the All-Star break still in good position.
Certainly, the Warriors could use the rest for their banged-up roster.
The Warriors knew Bogut wasn't going to play. He returned to action Monday at Toronto after missing the previous 38 games and was scheduled to get the night off. He is still rehabilitating his surgically repaired left ankle and has been ruled out of playing back-to-back sets until at least after the All-Star break.
It was expected Curry would miss his third game this season after he sprained his problematic right ankle in the third quarter Monday, his second sprain in fewer than two weeks.
Barnes was a fairly surprising late scratch. He injured his left knee late in the Toronto game when he converted a one-handed tomahawk dunk.
Raptors center Aaron Gray, trying to contest the dunk, fouled Barnes in midair and prompted an awkward landing. The next morning, a Warriors official said, Barnes' left knee was sore.
Landry, who said he bruised his left shoulder taking a charge late in the game at Toronto, tried to give it a go Tuesday. But after warm-ups, he was ruled out.
As a result, Jackson had to go deep into his bench. And it produced.
It was the kind of collective effort that can rally a team. The undermanned Warriors handled business by playing together on both ends.
Rookie guard Kent Bazemore was the poster boy for how the end of the bench stepped up. He scored nine points on 4-of-8 shooting with three assist and two rebounds. He also defended Irving straight up in the fourth quarter, preventing the All-Star guard from taking over the game late.
The Warriors took control near the end of the second quarter. With the score tied at 29, Thompson started a run with a 3-pointer. Jack later put Golden State up 39-32 with a 3-pointer and a fast-break layup. Moments later, a Bazemore 3-pointer pushed the lead to eight. Then Thompson punctuated a 17-5 run with a two-handed dunk. The Warriors led 55-44 at the half.
Thompson got hot in the third quarter to keep the Warriors comfortably ahead. He scored eight straight points, including two 3-pointers, the latter putting the Warriors up 72-57. Thompson made a career-high six 3-pointers.
The Warriors offense stalled a bit in the fourth quarter, allowing Cleveland to get within striking distance. The Cavaliers got as close as eight before Jack put the game away.
He nailed a pull-up 3-pointer at the 3:08 mark, giving the Warriors a 100-89 advantage. Then after a defensive stop, he dropped in a floater to put Golden State up 13.
That was all she wrote. The Warriors had pulled off the improbable. Or, just maybe, it was the Cavaliers who did. "They just kicked our butts," Irving said. "They jumped out to an early lead, and we just never got back in it."
Thursday's game
Dallas (19-26) at Warriors (28-17), 7:30 p.m. TNT
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