Stephen Curry ruffled some feathers in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room Monday, with talk of hoping for the smell of champagne, and LeBron James promised he’d have a forceful response to the MVP’s subtle trash talk.
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) January 18, 2016
Instead, Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors humiliated the Cavs on their homefloor with a 132-98 thumping.
LeBron called it “a good ol’ fashioned ass-kicking.”
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
It took three losses, including one that rivaled the worst home loss in franchise history, but LeBron James finally dropped the “1 of 82” shtick and conceded what we already knew. […] “Against the top teams you want to play well and we haven’t done that,” he said. “We’re 0-3 versus the top two teams in the West, we’re 0-1 against the Bulls so far. We’ve got to play better basketball.”
Maybe this is why James Monday morning thought my question about seeing this team in June was both “absurd” and “ridiculous.” James isn’t worried about June. He’s concerned with the now, and rightfully so. As I wrote last week after the Spurs loss, there just aren’t many teams that make a fair comparison to the Cavs. No one in the East can rival their talent, but if James wants to cite the Bulls then it’s only fair to also include the Raptors, who have a slightly better record. The Cavs are now 1-5 against those four teams, but this loss very clearly is the worst of them all.
They trailed by 43, their largest deficit of the season. It’s also the largest in James’ 1,127 career games, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The 34-point loss narrowly missed the 39-point loss to the Bulls on Jan. 20, 2012, which still ranks as the worst home loss in franchise history. In truth, the Warriors could’ve set their own score tonight. That’s how much they dominated the Cavs in every facet. […] Steph Curry scored 35 points. The Cavs’ entire Big Three combined for 27.
