Golden State Warriors have ultimate get out of jail free card

It was a slog of the first three quarters against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Perhaps the Golden State Warriors were feeling sluggish after revving their engines for a statement game against the Brooklyn Nets. Either way, this depleted Cavs team gave them troubles for most of the game.

Cleveland jumped to a 10-0 lead early in this game. This did not feel too jolting, however, as it felt all but certain the Dubs would erase any deficit they faced by the third quarter — where they are dominating teams at an unprecedented rate.

So far this season, Golden State is outscoring opponents by a whopping 124 total points in third quarters. Seeing as how the Cavs were missing six of their key rotational players and had been playing above expectations all night, the Warriors’ usual avalanche seemed inevitable.

But, it did not play out this way. In fact, Cleveland stumped the Warriors 27-17 in the third to extend their lead to 13 points heading into the fourth.

The Golden State Warriors opened Thursday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers feeling sluggish. Thankfully, Stephen Curry bailed them out.

While no one was hitting the panic button just yet, this game did have all of the makings of one the Dubs simply let slip out of their hands. A sluggish performance against a team they did not take seriously was going to bite them in the butt.

Then, Stephen Curry woke up.

Curry had scored 37 points against his former teammate Kevin Durant the other night and this mini revenge tour needed an encore. Besides, Curry was not about to pass up another opportunity to burn the Cavaliers in front of their home crowd, even if LeBron James is out of town.

The three-time champion bombarded the Cavaliers for half of his 40 overall points in the fourth quarter. He single-handedly snuffed any hope of an underdog victory for this young, surprisingly scrappy, Cavs’ squad.

Other members of the Warriors stepped up to secure this win. Nemanja Bjelica was fantastic in the first half while Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins provided the bone-crunching defense needed to stimy Cleveland’s dynamic backcourt of Ricky Rubio and Darius Garland.

Yet, the Dubs could have left Cleveland wondering how they let an easy one get away from them. Thankfully, the best get out of jail free card in the NBA showed up as Curry continues his trailblazing path to another MVP award.