The Golden State Warriors entered the final game of the calendar year with the 26th-ranked offense in December, so it was only appropriate that they would end in the same fashion on Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After a bright start to the game that saw them post 22 points in just over six minutes, the Warrior offense fell of a cliff in a 113-95 defeat to the league-leading Cavaliers.
The Warriors offense was a tough watch on Monday night
Golden State had just 11 points in a second-quarter that will hardly be remembered for either team. The Cavaliers finished the half with a 46-38 advantage, before breaking the game open with a devastating run to start the third.
After Trayce Jackson-Davis converted an and-one layup to reduce the margin to five, Cleveland made five-straight 3-pointers as part of a 20-2 run that Golden State could never recover from. The Warriors did reduce it to 15 by early in the fourth, but the damage had already been done as Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland combined for 48 points in the Cavaliers' 18-point win.
No one typified the Golden State performance more than Trayce Jackson-Davis who played well once again in a starting role, but missed easy layup after easy layup in a 6-of-14 shooting display. The second-year center did have 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, but six of those came on the offensive end where Jackson-Davis continually had to follow his initial attempt.
Yeah if it’s not a dunk for TJD it’s not going in lmao pic.twitter.com/M6b0WrUbIK
— Niko (@nikotaughtyou) December 31, 2024
TJD got zero touch around the rim
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) December 31, 2024
The 24-year-old was still a positive on a night where few were evident for the Warriors. Stephen Curry was again kept quiet, going for just 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting and 3-of-11 from 3-point range.
Jonathan Kuminga also found it more difficult after back-to-back 34-point outings, finishing 4-of-15 from the floor. The 22-year-old did get to the free throw line another 14 times, helping him to 18 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench.
Moses Moody actually led Golden State in scoring with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, though some of his points did come in garbage minutes down the stretch. Draymond Green (1-of-10), Buddy Hield (1-of-8) and Lindy Waters III (0-of-6) combined to go 2-of-24 from the floor, with the Warriors shooting 33.3% as a team and 23.7% from 3-point range.
The Warriors will now have to try and pick themselves up to respond against a Philadelphia 76ers team that will come to Chase Center on Thursday on the back of 10 wins in their last 13 games.