OAKLAND, Calif. — For three quarters Sunday night, Matthew Dellavedova was having an influence on Game 2 of the NBA Finals even while scoreless. As it turns out, he was saving his real difference-making for the end, and he did it on offense.
Dellavedova, a defensive standout most of the night while guarding NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry, hit two free throws with 10.1 seconds remaining, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers the lead for good in a 95-93 overtime victory over the Golden State Warriors that tied the Finals at one game apiece.
The best-of-seven series heads to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. A Game 5, now assured, will be played next Sunday back in Oakland. “Both teams are probably thinking we both should be up 2-0,” said Curry, who established a Finals record with 13 missed 3-pointers on a 19-point night. “Just got to handle it the right way and get ready for Tuesday.”
Cleveland coach David Blatt agreed with Curry’s assessment of the even series after the first-ever Finals win in Cavaliers history.
“I thought we played well enough to win the last game, too,” he said. “Today the ball just bounced our way at the right time, and that’s why today we won and the other day we lost.”
Cavaliers forward LeBron James recorded his fifth career triple-double in a Finals game with 39 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists, helping Cleveland offset a 108-100 Warriors win in overtime in Game 1 on Thursday.
The NBA Finals never previously opened with back-to-back overtime games. The Warriors rallied from an 11-point deficit with just over three minutes left Sunday to force the extra session.
The Cavaliers were able to even the series despite the absence of point guard Kyrie Irving, who sustained a season-ending broken left kneecap in the Game 1 loss.
“Our guys love the fact that we’ve been counted out,” James said. “I think our guys are using that as motivation.”
After Curry gave the Warriors their first lead since the second quarter, 93-92, with a pair of free throws with 29.5 seconds remaining, Dellavedova was fouled while attempting to follow in a missed 3-point try from forward James Jones.
Scoreless until the fourth quarter, Dellavedova, a product of Saint Mary’s College in the Oakland suburb of Moraga, Calif., calmly hit both free throws for a one-point lead, which he helped preserve when he harassed Curry into an airball at the other end.
“That’s the classic thing you practice as a kid — final seconds, down by one point,” he said. “It felt like I’ve been in that situation a million times.”
James, fouled on the rebound, capped the scoring by making one free throw with 4.4 seconds remaining.
“He’s a courageous kid,” Blatt said of Dellavedova. “He played big tonight, and we needed him to.”
Center Timofey Mozgov had a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Cavaliers, who won despite shooting just 32.6 percent from the field. They used a 55-45 rebounding advantage to help achieve the feat.
Supersub J.R. Smith added 13 points, while Dellavedova contributed nine points, five rebounds and a yeoman’s effort on Curry in 41 minutes.
“The confidence that we have in him allows him to be confident in himself,” James said of Dellavedova. “He goes out and he just plays his tail off, and when a guy like that does that, he gets great results.”
Shooting guard Klay Thompson led Golden State with 34 points, hitting 14 of his 28 shots. He made four of his 12 3-point attempts, while his teammates were just 4-for-23 on a night when the Warriors shot just 22.9 percent (8-for-35) from beyond the arc.
“Their defense was great,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They took our rhythm away.”
Curry missed 18 of his 23 shots, including 13 of his 15 3-point attempts.
“What you try to do is make his life difficult and hope that perhaps that particular day he’s not making some of the really, really tough shots that he does make,” Blatt said. “I thought today we kept most of his shots tough, and a lot of them didn’t fall.”
Added Kerr, “It happens. It happens to everybody, whether you’re the MVP or a role player. I’ve seen it with Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan. It doesn’t matter who you are. Nobody is immune from a tough night.”
The Cavaliers, held to two points in the five-minute overtime in Game 1, surpassed that total on their second shot this time around, with shooting guard Iman Shumpert taking James’ 11th assist and converting it into a 3-pointer 1:13 into the period.
Two free throws by James increased the lead to 92-87 with 3:17 left before Golden State, as it had at the end of regulation, rallied again.
The Warriors missed their first five shots of the overtime, but power forward Draymond Green tipped in the fifth failure, then followed in a miss of his own, making it a one-point game with 2:00 remaining.
Neither team scored again until Curry’s two free throws with 29.5 seconds left.
“It didn’t feel right,” Curry said of his shot. “Shots I normally make I knew as soon as they left my hand that they were off. That doesn’t usually happen.”
As in Game 1, the Cavaliers had the final two shots at a regulation win, but James couldn’t finish a driving left-hander and power forward Tristan Thompson was too strong with a tip-in attempt in traffic just prior to the horn.
Cleveland, up 11 with 3:13 to go, couldn’t hold on down the stretch of regulation. Golden State reserve swingman Andre Iguodala and Curry hit consecutive 3-pointers to spark a 15-4, quarter-ending run, and Curry’s driving layup with 7.2 seconds remaining forged the 87-all tie.
NOTES: The Cavaliers have experience rebounding from a Game 1 loss in the postseason. They lost the opener to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinals before taking the series 4-2. … The Cavaliers’ complete injury list of players who will not be returning to the Finals consists of: PG Kyrie Irving (fracture left kneecap), PF Kevin Love (dislocated left shoulder) and PF/C Anderson Varejao (ruptured left Achilles tendon). … While admitting before the game that being an underdog is not a bad thing, Cavaliers coach David Blatt insisted, “We’ve also played short-handed in the past, and we’ve won a lot of games. We’re not looking to win one more. That’s not our goal.” … Warriors coach Steve Kerr took time in his pregame press conference to congratulate fellow University of Arizona alum Bob Baffert, trainer of Triple Crown-winning American Pharoah, as well as French Open champ Stan Wawrinka, noting, “I like watching other sporting events, and I do draw inspiration from them.”