Steve Kerr says he remains confident the Golden State Warriors will defend their NBA title despite the Cleveland Cavaliers cutting their Finals lead to 3-2 on Monday.
The Warriors looked set to claim their second straight crown on their home court after returning to the Oracle Arena on the back of Friday’s 108-97 win in Ohio, but they simply could not live with the relentless Cavs.
Talisman LeBron James scored 41 points for the visitors, a tally matched by team-mate Kyrie Irving, as Cleveland cut the deficit with an impressive 112-97 victory.
Many of the Warriors’ issues came in defence, where they were not helped by the absence of suspended power forward Draymond Green.
The teams will now head back east to the Quicken Loans Arena for Game 6, where Tyronn Lue’s side will be looking to level the series and force a decider on Sunday evening.
Despite Monday’s result, Golden State remain the 1.18 favourites to win the Finals, with Cleveland at 4.33. Green will be back for Thursday’s clash and his coach Kerr says he remains confident about his team’s chances.
The 50-year-old believes the Warriors remain in the driving seat for the title but knows they have areas they need to improve on.
“I kind of like our position,” Kerr said. “I like our position a lot better than theirs. “We weren’t very good defensively.
We obviously knew we were without Draymond, so there’s no point in harping on about that. We had to play better, and we didn’t.”
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