The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors battled fiercely for three quarters of their game on Monday night but it all ended with a Warriors victory, 118-108. Much of the win for the Warriors came at the hands of Kevin Durant, who matched LeBron James with 32 points in the game. The fourth quarter was a different story as the Warriors went on a 20-6 run to put away Cleveland and Durant have now won seven of the nine games he faced LeBron since he joined Golden State. With that said, Durant refused to gloat after the victory.

Durant on the Cavaliers in 2018

Kevin Durant was asked after the game about his rivalry with LeBron James and had nothing but respect to give the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar. Durant said that the entire rivalry is about respect and that both he and LeBron respect each other. Durant also said that he loves how LeBron plays the game and handles his team and he hopes he will get better over his career as well.

As far as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant said that you can't stop LeBron James and he just needs to make him second guess his play. As far as the wins in the regular season, including the one on Monday night, Durant said that those wins mean nothing because the Cavaliers will be a completely different team when the playoffs roll around.

Cavaliers struggles

LeBron James scored 20 points in the first half and it looked like the Cleveland Cavaliers would avenge their last loss to the Golden State Warriors. It didn't happen. With Kevin Durant covering LeBron in the game, The King only scored 12 second half points and Cleveland dropped their eighth game in their last 10.

However, as Kevin Durant pointed out, don't think this is the Cleveland Cavaliers fans will see when the NBA playoffs roll around at the end of the season. One thing that LeBron James fans know, it is that he is not as concerned about the Cavaliers regular season record as he is with their performance in the playoffs.

Last year, the Boston Celtics won the Eastern Conference and LeBron James dismissed their records all the way through the season.

When the playoffs came, they went in and beat everyone to make it to the NBA Finals again. They lost to the Golden State Warriors in the Finals and want to rectify that this season.

Right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers are resting all their older stars throughout the year, including Dwyane Wade and the stars returning from injury, such as Isaiah Thomas. As long as Cleveland is in the playoffs, which they will be, they want to be healthy and believe they can beat anyone. Kevin Durant knows this and is not taking the Cavs lightly.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED