“We all remember that,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “I didn’t have to say anything.”
He was referring, of course, to last season’s N.B.A. finals, when the Warriors blew a three-games-to-one series lead and watched the Cavaliers dance away with their first championship. It was, in a less significant way, more of the same when the Warriors faced the Cavaliers on Christmas, only to let a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter evaporate in a 1-point loss.
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On Monday, the Warriors (35-6) were not about to let that happen again. They scored 78 points in the first half and led by as many as 39. The Cavaliers (29-11) looked as if they were wearing concrete sneakers and lofting jump shots into a stiff breeze.
“They put it on us,” James said of the Warriors. “They put it on us real good.”
It should be noted that the Cavaliers had spent nearly two weeks on the road. Their visit to Oakland was…
