(AFP) - Stephen Curry provided a late fourth-quarter lift as Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 89-83 on Friday in a rematch of last season's NBA Finals.

Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Curry sank back-to-back driving layups in the final minutes to answer consecutive slam dunks by LeBron James, and shut down a Cleveland rally as Golden State improved the best start in NBA history to 28-1.

"We don't believe we're going to make a statement with one game," Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said.

"Overall, we're 28-1. That's more of a statement."

Curry scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed out seven assists while Draymond Green had 22 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists for the Warriors.

"We want more," Curry said.

"We tasted a little bit of success, won a championship, but we have such potential on this team we want to accomplish more. Having the record (start) is great but we want to do a lot more."

In a grinding contest that produced their lowest-scoring game this season, the Warriors improved to 14-0 at home this season with their 32nd overall home victory in a row. They shot only 41 per cent from the floor but held Cleveland to 31 per cent, including 5-of-30 from 3-point range.

"That was a big win," Curry said.

"We came out defensively and did what we were supposed to do. We were a little off offensively but if we can continue to do that, we'll be fine."

Curry missed part of the second quarter after aggravating a right calf injury, but said he would not miss any games.

James scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds but the Cavaliers fell to 19-8, 6-7 on the road, and saw their six-game win streak ended by the same team that beat them four games to two in last June's NBA Finals.

J.R. Smith had 14 points for Cleveland while Kyrie Irving added 13 and Kevin Love and Australian Matthew Dellavedova added 10 points each.

"There were a lot of little things as far as the shots were concerned... that did catch up with us," Cavaliers coach Dave Blatt said.