Photo: Ben Margot/AP

When you shoot 53% on the road, get 52 points from your bench, and hold the opponent to 42% shooting, you expect to win. You certainly don't expect the other team to have a shot in the air to force overtime, but that's exactly what happened tonight in Golden State as the young, well-rested Warriors used highly-efficient three point shooting and 22 Cavalier turnovers to make this one a nail-biter.

Caught up in the pace: If a team, no matter who, is playing the Golden State Warriors, it is virtually inevitable that they are going to get caught up in the up-tempo style that the Warriors play. The Cavaliers are no exception to the rule, and the first quarter was a prime example of what happens. The Cavs held a two point lead after one at 33-31, but the Warriors were close because if you simply try to outscore the Warriors, you are going to have a hard time creating a lead and distancing yourself. Some of it is Golden State's shot-making ability, but the main problem tonight was anytime that the wine and gold missed a couple of buckets straight, Golden State would rattle off a quick run.

Jawad answer the call again: Another game, another career high in scoring for Jawad Williams. "Hot Wad" shot it well once again, hitting 4-of-5, including 2-of-3 from deep, for 11 points, his second straight double-digit scoring night. The other Williams logged 20 minutes tonight and might have logged more if not for foul trouble. The way that Jawad has had a meteoric rise to usefulness resembles the path that J.J. Hickson took earlier this season. Since his first four or five phenomenal games, Hickson has come back to earth and has had some setbacks while still holding down the starting power forward spot. Some differences in their skill sets, however, makes me think that Jawad may have better sticking power and may not have such a painful fall back to earth. First of all, Jawad has proven to be a solid perimeter defender and has a great NBA body. Next, Jawad has a bigger arsenal of scoring abilities from his days at UNC and in the D-league. Finally, Jawad actually catches passes thrown at him (that's a cut on you, Hickson). Time and overall team health will tell if Jawad continues to see playing time, but this blogger wonders if a starting spot for Jawad may work as well or better than a starting spot for J.J. Sure, there would be hurdles and maybe it's not worth it at this time, but it is something to keep in mind.

The Maggette March: Warriors forward Corey Maggette has an uncanny way of getting to the foul line. He's undersized for a power forward, but Don Nelson has been using undersized fours since before I was born, and he makes up for lack of size with strength and post moves. Maggette marched to the foul line an eye-popping 18 times, and by making 17 of them, he helped himself to a 32 point, 7 rebound, and 3 assist night. Maggette is one of those career "good guy on a bad team" players. He was with the Clippers forever, and now he's been in hell, err, Golden State for the last two seasons. I wonder what he would be able to do in a good system on a good team, something we may never find out.

Block party and Ellis is upset to be invited: The Cavaliers did string together some nice defensive stretches tonight despite the 114 points allowed. The best stretch was in the third quarter where the Cavaliers blocked a string of shots in a row. Several of those plays involved the high-scoring point guard Monta Ellis, who lost his cool after one block and was T'd up. The Cavaliers blocked an incredible seven shots in the third, including three from LeBron, one of the chasedown variety on Monta Ellis. Rookie Stephen Curry fell victim earlier in the game to a chasedown as well. The Cavaliers boasted an impressive 10 blocks in this one overall, with LeBron sending away 4 and Shaq and Andy rejecting 2 each.

Andy and Z scoring blitz: LeBron took a back seat for most of the third quarter, mostly because the Cavaliers were finding other guys to pour in points by the bunches. The backup bigs were a huge part of this in the third quarter. These two combined for 14 straight points for the Cavaliers, and throwing in Shaq and J.J. the frontcourt accounted for 22 of the team's 31 third quarter points. LeBron didn't score in the third until a buzzer-beating three to give the Cavs a ten point lead with 12 to go. LeBron had 11 assists on the evening, and dished out five of them in the third alone.

No more Mr. Nice Guy: LeBron was sharing the wealth most of the evening, but he also hopped into the driver's seat when the Cavaliers needed him to do so late in the game. He did this by running a post-up clinic on Corey Maggette for the game's final minutes, scoring almost at will. To accomplish this while staying with Golden State's guard-heavy personnel, the Cavaliers went with a lineup of all guards and small forwards: Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Anthony Parker, Jawad Williams, and LeBron. Gibson was on the floor due to Mo Williams foul trouble, and he hit a key three-pointer late, but he saw only five and a half minutes with Jawad getting the nod ahead of him. LeBron's post parade accounted for 15 of the last 19 Cavalier points, and it allowed the wine and gold to overcome their late mistakes to hold on for the victory. It must be the shoes, because for the second straight night, LeBron went with one blue and one orange sneaker to match the throwback blues. He is averaging 39 points the last two nights with mismatched shoes, so perhaps he should continue that trend.

Leaving the door open: The Cavaliers did a terrible job closing this one out. They weren't helped by Golden State's fantastic three-point (10-for-15) or free-throw (32-for-38) shooting, but it was the Cavaliers turnovers (surprise, surprise) that almost blew this game. The worst came on an inbound where Delonte West turned it over, Steph Curry threw a behind the back pass to the corner, and Monta Ellis drilled a three to cut it to three points with just under a minute to play. The Cavs were outscored 10-2 in the final two minutes plus of the game, and Steph Curry's desperation heave was nearly a goaltend by Delonte West, but the ball was off to the side and it was a correct no-call. The Warriors got a terrible 30-foot look from Curry as a result because Don Nelson didn't want Monta Ellis to take the timeout he was ready to take when Golden State grabbed the rebound with four seconds left. It was a close call for the Cavaliers, and perhaps they should log this one into memory about what can happen when you shut off the engines a little too early.

 goes to: LeBron James. LeBron really did it all in this one. His defense was game-changing, with four blocked shots and many more hotly contested. His facilitation of the offense was much improved over the last couple of games, and of course, he scored when the team desperately needed him to do so. LBJ finished with 37 points on 12-of-23 shooting, adding 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks.

Team Grade: C+

The Warriors didn't play half bad tonight considering they lost one center, Rony Turiaf, to injury and another, Andris Biedrins, to foul trouble. Golden State normally doesn't bother with big men, however, so they went small and gave the Cavaliers all they could handle. The Cavaliers as mentioned earlier did shoot 53% and hold GSW to 42%, but they turned it over a stomach-turning 22 times. What brought it home was five guys in double digit scoring (James, Varejao, Ilgauskas, O'Neal, Jawad Williams) and their 10 blocked shots.

The Cavaliers' next stop on the five-game swing is one of the toughest arenas for opponents to win in, EnergySolutions Arena, home of the Utah Jazz. Utah is 14-6 there this season, and they are healthy, something they haven't been in a few of the latest matchups between these two. It will be a challenge for the Cavs to cover the Deron Williams-Carlos Boozer pick 'n roll game, and they will rely heavily on Varejao and West's defense in this game.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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