Golden State Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals with a dominant 132-113 victory over Cleveland Cavaliers. Kevin Durant hit a game-high 33 points, while Stephen Curry recorded his first play-off triple-double, with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
LeBron James made a record-equalling eighth play-off triple-double. The Warriors, who welcomed back coach Steve Kerr after missing 11 games through back issues, have now won a record 14 straight play-off games.
The visitors trailed by just three points at half-time at Oracle Arena, before the Warriors outscored the Cavaliers 35-24 in a decisive third quarter.
Golden State beat Cleveland in the 2015 finals but were 2-0 and then 3-1 up last year, only to let their lead slip as the Cavaliers won their first NBA title.
Kerr, a five-time NBA champion as a player, had been absent since game two of his side’s first play-off series against Portland Trail Blazers after suffering complications from back surgery in 2015.
Assistant coach Mike Brown stepped in, completing 4-0 sweeps of Portland, Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs to reach the finals, with Kerr only announcing his return for this game hours before tip-off.
Kerr, 51, led the Warriors to the 2015 title before last year’s defeat and said his side would have to play “smarter” in game three of the best-of-seven series, which takes place in Cleveland on Wednesday (02:00 BST on Thursday).
A triple-double means a player has recorded a double-digit number in three of five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.
Cavaliers small forward James, 32, made 29 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists to draw level with Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson on eight post-season triple-doubles. No other player has more than two.
With Curry also making a triple-double, it was only the second time in play-off history that opposing players have achieved the feat in the same game – the first coming in 1970 by New York Knicks’ Walt Frazier and Milwaukee Buck’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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