OAKLAND — The Warriors are leading the Cleveland Cavaliers 45-42 in a Christmas Day rematch of last year’s NBA Finals — and current conference leaders — at Oracle Arena.
Golden State’s Draymond Green and Cleveland’s LeBron James currently top all scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively. With eight first-half rebounds, Green is well on his way to a double-double.
The Warriors led 28-19 at the end of the first quarter after outshooting Cleveland 52.6 percent to 28.0 percent. However, the Cavaliers clawed their way back to tie the game at 31-31 on a pair of free throws by guard Kyrie Irving with 8:28 left in the second.
From there, it was a nip-and-tuck contest, with neither team getting ahead by more than a bucket.
Irving scored with 4:33 remaining in the first half to put Cleveland up by two. The score stayed that way until 2:38 was left, when James went 1-of-2 at the line after a controversial foul was called against Klay Thompson, who had appeared to swat the ball out of James’ hands.
A jumper by Green and a pair of free throws by Thompson propelled the Warriors back into the lead at 41-40 with 1:42 left in the first half.
Steph Curry made two free throws to widen Golden State’s lead to 43-40. After Cleveland pulled within one, Thompson put in a missed shot by Green to keep the Warriors ahead by three at halftime.
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