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Thursday, Jan. 6 7:30pm ET
St. Jean 0-5 as Warriors coach | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers weren't concerned about artistic beauty or style points. Right now, a victory over lowly Golden State is as good as one over the Lakers. Lamond Murray scored 20 points, rookie Andre Miller added 13 and Cleveland finally put somebody away in the fourth quarter with a 90-75 victory Thursday night over the Warriors, who dropped their eighth straight. Cleveland was desperate for a victory after losing 10 of its last 11, and thankfully ran into a Warriors team having worse problems than the Cavs. "It feels good," Cavs coach Randy Wittman said. "I don't care how ugly it is. There's nothing that feels better than winning. We won a game and now we just have to build on it. Hopefully, this can knock out some of that snakebit feeling." The Cavs had been in a recent rut in which they would build a lead only to watch it disappear in the fourth quarter. This one, however, was never really in doubt. "One victory can sure make a difference," Murray said. "Any victory, no matter how ugly, can get any team on a roll. We had a lot of energy. Now we have to look at the tape, see what we did well and go and do it again." The Warriors, playing without second-leading scorer John Starks, shot a season-low 31 percent from the field and matched a season-low for points. Antawn Jamison scored 22 points on 10-of-28 shooting and Mookie Blaylock added 16 for Golden State. Rookie Vonteego Cummings started in place of Starks, who was not in uniform because of tendinitis in his right knee. Cummings had 12 points. Adonal Foyle had 13 rebounds for Golden State, which set a Gund Arena record with 23 offensive rebounds. "You don't win on the road shooting 30 percent," Warriors coach Garry St. Jean said. "But we had a lot of medium range shots that were very makable -- baseline shots, wide-open 3s -- for the first three quarters and just didn't make them." Miller added seven assists and effectively ran the offense in the fourth for Cleveland, which took a 12-point lead into the final 12 minutes and never let the Warriors get any closer. "We needed a win so bad," Miller said. "We didn't want to lose at home to Golden State. Guys were focused from the start." Miller scored six points as the Cavs closed a dreadful third quarter with a 12-3 run to open a 70-58 lead. Neither team could get anything going offensively in the period, and as the Warriors launched brick after brick, St. Jean came over to the scorer's table to ask how poorly his team was shooting. "Only 30 percent? I thought it was worse," he said. Golden State, playing its third games in four days, scored only 35 points in the second half. "I had maybe four of five shots that normally go in," said Jamison. "I won't say that I felt a little tired, but they just didn't fall down." The Cavs bridged an 18-1 run between the first and second quarters to take a 38-26 lead as the Warriors continually misfired from the floor. Golden State, which was just 4 of 22 from the field in the first quarter, made only one field goal in the first 8:06 of the second period. But a 10-4 burst pulled the Warriors within 46-40 at halftime. Game notesSt. Jean, who doubles as Golden State's GM and fired coach P.J. Carlesimo last month, is 0-5 leading the Warriors. ... The Cavs have won nine straight at home vs. Golden State and 14 of 15 overall. ... Cleveland signed forward Kornel David to a 10-day contract on Thursday. David, waived by the Bulls earlier this week, played the final 23 seconds. ... Starks, who missed five games earlier this season because of his knee, could go on the injured list. ... Sam Mack, signed earlier in the day to help the Warriors from the perimeter, made a 3-pointer late in the third quarter for his first points with Golden State. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Golden State Clubhouse Cleveland Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 101 Sacramento 89
Cleveland 90
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