Cleveland, OH – Klay Thompson had no problem shouldering the scoring load for Golden State with Stephen Curry out nursing an injured ankle.
Making a career-best six 3-pointers, Thompson set a personal high with 32 points to lead the Warriors to a 108-95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena.
Thompson hit 13-of-24 shots from the field -- missing just two from long distance -- as Golden State captured its fifth win in seven contests to notch its best start through 45 games (28-17) since the 1991-92 season.
The Warriors were also without Harrison Barnes (knee), Carl Landry (shoulder) and Andrew Bogut, who returned to the lineup after a 38-game absence on Monday, but sat to rest his surgically repaired ankle on the second night of a back-to-back.
"We could have just layed it down when we didn't have four of our premier players but we had bench guys come in and do big things," said Thompson. "It shows the depth of this team."
Jarrett Jack added 26 points to go with 12 assists and David Lee tallied 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in the victory.
Kyrie Irving came into the contest scorching hot, but played through an illness on Tuesday and scored just 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting for Cleveland, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. He had scored at least 30 in each of his past three games.
"I just wasn't myself out there in terms of my mental focus but that's no excuse," said Irving. "I don't want to make any excuses. There were a lot of defensive lapses. I lost Klay Thompson a few times and tried to get up on Jarrett Jack but they just kicked our butts tonight."
Tristan Thompson totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively, in the setback.
The Warriors, who shot 53.6 percent for the game, shot an even better 59 percent in first half.
Burying all four of his 3-point attempts, Thompson scored 18 points and helped Golden State close out the half on a 21-12 run to take a 55-44 lead into the locker room.
Thompson added 12 more points in the third, as his second triple of the quarter extended the Warriors' advantage to 15 at 72-57.
Golden State converted 11-of-16 from beyond the arc for the night.
A C.J. Miles 3-pointer helped cut the Cavaliers deficit to nine at the 4:05 mark, but Cleveland didn't make another field goal for the rest of the quarter. They shot just 34.8 percent (8-for-23) in the period and would go into the fourth trailing 84-68.
Cleveland fell behind by as many as 16 before reducing its deficit to 97-89 with 3:26 remaining. However, Jack responded with a triple and then a running jumper to push the Warriors' edge back to double-digits for the rest of the game.
Game Notes
The Warriors are 15-5 against Eastern Conference opponents this season ... Golden State has beaten Cleveland five straight times ... The Cavaliers have not had a four-game winning streak since LeBron James left for Miami following the 2010 season ... The Cavaliers fell to 6-13 at home, where they will place seven of their next eight games.
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