Warriors outlast Cavs in gritty NBA Finals rematch (Ball Don’t Lie)

The highly anticipated Christmas rematch between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers at Oracle Arena featured several different looks from what the basketball world saw in June's NBA Finals, including an absent starter for the title-winning hosts and the return of two stars for the defending East champs. Funny, then, that the now 28-1 Warriors' 89-83 win had a lot in common with the six games that transpired when we last saw these two teams on the same court. [ Don't miss Yahoo's NBA free roll on Christmas. Join our $25K Stocking Stuffer Contest ] The Cavaliers held the Warriors to a season-low scoring output, allowed 5-of-18 shooting from beyond the arc, and slowed down the tempo as hoped. Yet they did not produce enough offense themselves to capture the win, shooting a paltry 31.6 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from deep (5 of 30) with no player making more than half of his field-goal attempts. Despite starting both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving (admittedly still rounding into shape in his third game of the season) after the duo managed one game combined in the finals, LeBron James was left to produce the bulk of the offense with 25 points on 10-of-26...