After dropping Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, 113-91, the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers were looking for a bounce-back performance.

Game 2 started with the Warriors, who were welcoming Steve Kerr back to the bench after a lengthy absence, winning the opening tip.

LeBron James opened the scoring for the Cavs with a driving layup, but Warriors forward Draymond Green quickly answered with an open three. From there, the champs went into attack mode. In fact, Cleveland buried their first four shots, resulting in an early six point lead.

Kevin Love really had his shot going through the early stages of the first quarter. The former UCLA Bruin stand-out knocked down his first four shots.

The Warriors, feeling the home crowd, fought back to take a seven point lead near the midway point of the opening frame, resulting in a Cavaliers timeout.

After the break, Kevin Durant extended Golden State’s lead to 10 with a step-back three. Things seemed to be getting ugly for the Cavs until James threw down a ferocious dunk to silence the crowd.

Despite their eight turnovers, the Warriors were leading at the end of the first quarter, 40-34.

As he often does, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue called on several of his reserves to start the second quarter — this time, led by Kyrie Irving. The bench squad immediately reduced the gap to five, but a few sloppy possessions allowed the Warriors to rebuild a 12 point advantage. Coach Lue was forced to call a timeout.

Every time the Warriors made a run, the Cavs managed to find a way to respond. Near the midway point of the second quarter, Iman Shumpert stepped up to the charity stripe and buried a pair of free-throws to bring Cleveland within six.

An impressive James to Love alley-oop had the Cavs within four, but “The Slim Reaper,” as Durant is known, answered with a fading two (and one). The King followed that feat with a power post-move, making it a two point game. The crowd inside Oracle Arena seemed to grow a bit uneasy.

At the halftime horn, the champs were fighting hard, but trailing by three, 67-64.

Coming out of the locker room, both teams continued to battle. Each time the Cavs crept within one or two points of the lead, the Warriors answered with a run.

Stephen Curry pushed Golden State’s advantage back to 10 with a driving layup, forcing yet another Cavaliers timeout.

Much to the crowd’s dismay, Green picked up his fourth foul on a transition play at the eight minute mark of the third. This time, it was coach Kerr calling a timeout to make a substitution.

The Cavs kept fighting. A series of sloppy Golden State possessions had the champs back within four points, but their momentum was short-lived. The Warriors, still without Green, went on a 10-2 run to push their lead to 14 — their largest lead to that point.

After three quarters of play, it looked like the Cavs, trailing 102-88, were in trouble.

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The high-scoring battle raged on into the final frame. Irving, known for his fourth quarter expertise, dazzled the crowd with a shake-and-bake drive to cut Golden State’s advantage to 12, but Cleveland’s momentum was once again short-lived, as the Warriors just kept raining bombs from the perimeter. With seven minutes remaining in the game, the Cavs were searching for answers.

Finally, with just over two minutes showing on the clock, coach Lue waved the white flag and sat his starters. In the end, Golden State’s big lead was just too much for the Cavs to overcome. When the final horn blew inside Oracle, the Warriors had taken a 2-0 series lead by way of a 132-113 victory.

The series will now shift to Cleveland. Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday, June 7th, at 9:00 p.m. inside Quicken Loans Arena, with ABC having live broadcast coverage.