With their season on the line, the Cleveland Cavaliers played their best half of basketball all season in Game 4 on Friday. It was also the best first half in NBA Finals history.
Scoring 86 points in the first half, the Cavs were just on fire. Cleveland shot 60 percent and went 13-of-22 from three, which is a stellar 59.1 percent. The Cavs also scored a bunch of points at the free-throw line, where they went 14-of-18.
The @cavs' 86 PTS in first half sets #NBA record for most PTS in 1st half of a #NBAFinals game. pic.twitter.com/1fDGMXBYF8
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) June 10, 2017
The Cavs were led in the first half by Kyrie Irving, who hit four three-pointers and scored 28 points. The rest of Cleveland’s Big Three also delivered as Kevin Love chipped in 17 and LeBron James had 22 points. JR Smith continued his strong shooting from Game 3 by hitting three three-pointers.
While Cleveland’s jaw-dropping offensive outburst is historic and simply amazing, the Warriors still scored at a high rate by recording 68 points of their own. Naturally, with both teams scoring so much, the combined 154 points scored is also an NBA record.
The 154 combined 1st half PTS between the @cavs & @warriors are the most combined PTS by both teams for a #NBAFinals half. pic.twitter.com/j3ehdhQj8w
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) June 10, 2017
With the way Cleveland played in the first half, they clearly don’t want their season to end and are desperately trying extend the series. And while they still have a long road ahead of them in the face of a 3-0 deficit, forcing a Game 5 on Monday is all the Cavs are concerned with right now as they are taking it one game at a time.
