For the second time in as many games, Kevin Durant + Steph Curry = a Warriors romp.
Led by another stellar performance from Durant (33 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, five blocks, three steals) and Curry (a triple-double), the Warriors overcame LeBron James' usual heroics en route to another easy victory, this time by a 132-113 margin over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers.
This was KD's 5th 30-point #NBAFinals game, tied for 5th most by a player thru age-28 (since 1964) pic.twitter.com/HdWupY0Dqc
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) June 5, 2017
The Warriors improved to 14-0 during this year's playoffs, surpassing the 1988-89 Lakers to set a new NBA record. This also marks the first time ever that a team has won each of the first two games of the NBA Finals by at least 19 points, and they're the third team to score 130 points in an NBA Finals game.
Here are three big takeaways from Sunday night's game, which gave Golden State a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts back to Cleveland for Game 3 Wednesday night on ABC15.
1. Let's talk about LeBron first.
Sometimes your absolute best isn't good enough. Sometimes you can notch a triple-double in the third quarter and still see your team blown out.
Such was the case for LeBron James, who recorded his eighth triple-double in NBA Finals history Sunday night, tying Magic Johnson for the all-time finals record. In fact, LeBron has more triple-doubles in the NBA Finals in the last 25 years than everyone else combined.
LeBron James (18/10/6) ignites the @cavs in the first half of Game 2! #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/K2NugzMb3l
— NBA (@NBA) June 5, 2017
But LeBron's 29 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds weren't nearly enough against a Warriors team with too much firepower -- and on Sunday, they got help from a man who struggled on the offensive end in Game 1. Speaking of whom...
2. Klay comes to life.
After a miserable performance on the offensive end in Game 1, Klay Thompson returned to form Sunday night. The sharpshooting guard contributed 22 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range, including this jumper all the way from Sacramento late in the third quarter.
"range" pic.twitter.com/7Q5a5ZhmHR
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 5, 2017
Curry and Durant have already proven to be too much for the Cavaliers to handle. If Thompson continues to do this sort of thing, it won't matter much what LeBron and the Cavs do when this series goes to Cleveland.
3. Curry puts the moves on LeBron.
Curry had a triple-double of his own (32 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds), making Sunday's game the first in NBA Finals history (and the first in the NBA playoffs since 1970) to feature two players with a triple-double.
But the play everyone will be talking out Morning morning is this move Curry put on LeBron in the third quarter. This was filthy.
Chef Curry cooked The King pic.twitter.com/g2K8TxlCSs
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 5, 2017
Look for this play to be on the Warriors' pregame hype video throughout the 2017-18 season.