Sunday night, the Golden State Warriors were defeated by the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104. The setback was the first on the road for the Warriors this season, bringing their record to 5-2. The Dubs are now 1.5 games back of the Nuggets for the top spot in the Western Conference rankings.

Despite the Warriors’ strong start to the season from their bench, it was the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green who prevented a blowout victory for the Cavs in the first half. The Warriors’ offensive onslaught was thwarted all game by the length of the Cavaliers’ defense, which resulted in below-average shooting performances from every player on the team other than Steph Curry.

With 28 points, seven of which came from beyond the arc, Curry paced the Warriors. The skilled Cleveland defense did cause Steph some problems, as he committed six mistakes and made just one of his shots from inside the arc.

Despite Cleveland’s length, the Warriors continued to attack the hoop. Although the Warriors shot poorly (35.8% for the game), they were able to keep it close by repeatedly drawing fouls and scoring from the charity stripe. On Sunday, the Warriors shot 30 free throws but only made 20 of them.

Rookie center Trayce Jackson-Davis and third-year wing Jonathan Kuminga both made significant contributions in the second half. In just over 11 minutes of action, Jackson-Davis was the Warriors’ leading plus-8. He is making a compelling case to be a more regular member of head coach Steve Kerr’s rotation.

For the first three quarters, the Warriors prevented the Cavaliers from breaking away, and for large portions of the fourth, they closed the gap to five or six points. However, Golden State couldn’t muster up enough of a scoring surge to either force a tie or grab the lead. Instead, Cavs’ All-Star guards Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell always appeared to come through with a big play to kill the Warriors momentum.