NBA-Warriors lose composure in humbling defeat to Cavaliers

By Frank Pingue CLEVELAND, June 16 (Reuters) - The shell-shocked Golden State Warriors, who were once in complete control of the NBA Finals, are suddenly flirting with disaster after being forced to a decisive seventh game of the NBA Finals. The usually sweet-shooting Warriors were a pale imitation of the record-setting squad from the regular season in a 115-101 loss on Thursday to a Cleveland Cavaliers team that looks determined to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. After squandering two straight chances to close out the championship series, the Warriors plan to regain their composure and approach Sunday's winner-take-all showdown with a chip on their collective shoulders. "We feel like we could have closed it out a long time ago, but here we are," Warriors guard Klay Thompson told reporters. "So we're going to play angry because we know if we play with that emotion and we channel it the right way, we're a really, really good team." Everything came to a head late in the fourth quarter when the usually stoic Stephen Curry was whistled for a foul on LeBron James, his sixth of the game, with the Warriors trailing by 12 and about four minutes to play. Curry, unhappy with the call, promptly threw his mouthpiece into the stands and it hit a fan. The two-time reigning league Most Valuable Player was then ejected from the game with the first technical foul of his career. "It was obviously frustrating fouling out in the fourth quarter of a clinching game and not being out there with my teammates," said Curry, who quickly apologised to the fan. "So it got the best of me, but I'll be all right for next game." It was just one of many things that did not go Golden State's way on a night that they were hoping would have a champagne-soaked ending to it. The team were counting on the return of defensive specialist Draymond Green, who served a one-game ban after being assessed a retroactive flagrant foul for his swipe at James during Game Four, to give them a boost. But Green managed just eight points on 3-for-7 shooting on a night when his team, the highest scoring bunch in the NBA, shot a mere 40.2 percent from the field. Thankfully for Golden State their top seeding gives them the right to play Game Seven at home, where they have lost just four times all season. "If you start out every season and you say we get a Game Seven, we get one game at home to win the NBA Championship, I'll take it every time," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. "So I can't wait for Sunday. I think we'll be fine." But despite returning home, where they lost to the Cavaliers on Monday, they Warriors are suddenly staring at the prospect of becoming the first NBA team to allow a Finals opponent to claw back from a 3-1 deficit and win the championship. "We expected to win the NBA championship coming into the season. It's either win the whole thing or bust for us," said Thompson. "I mean, it's no fun getting second place. So it would be a great season, but at the same time to us, the players, we're so competitive, we'd feel like we failed." (Reporting by Frank Pingue. Editing by Steve Keating.)