Golden State, showing the teamwork and depth that helped produce a record 73 regular-season wins, routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-89 in Thursday’s opening game of the NBA Finals. They were attacking the paint (all night), getting to the free throw line, and getting offensive rebounds.
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If Curry and Thompson play up to their normal standards and Livingston and the rest of the bench contribute like they did in Game 1, the Cavaliers won’t have much of a chance against the team that beat them in last season’s NBA Finals as well.
Despite the win, head coach Steve Kerr showed his frustration at the team, by taking out his anger on a clipboard. It was basically LeBron James with a bunch of sidebar players that he had to carry by himself in 6 games. Barnes finished with 13 points and and two assists.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to be nervous out there like we were a year ago”, Klay Thompson said. “So we’ll be better next game”. “We’re stronger at our core, but we’re very similar. I didn’t feel any need to change our lineup for Game 1 of the series”. It’s so hard to defend Smith at the perimeter when LeBron James is attacking the basket because of James’ elite passing skills.
Warriors in 7 The Cavs are healthy and better than a year ago.
“For the most part I’m pleased with what we did defensively against Steph and Klay”, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said. “We knew we had to play tough defense and make some shots”. It’s pretty unique to be in this position and just to have another opportunity, another opportunity for guys to write about it, for us to play it, for the people to talk about it throughout the world. LeBron James shot only 40.5 percent, though that was far better than Kyrie Irving (27 percent) and Kevin Love (28.6 percent), who combined to miss all 11 3-point attempts in the first meeting. All of Golden State’s wins were arduous slogs. Four subs scored for the Warriors, with three – Iguodala, Livingston, Barbosa -cracking double figures. It’s the first time ever that National Basketball Association finals feature teams that are ranked 1st and 2nd in three-pointers in the regular season.
Green scored 16 points to go with 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Livingston led their scoring assault with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
A year ago they stumbled in the Finals for two games when they let the Cavaliers dictate the pace, slow everything down and turn it into a gutter fight.
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Not only are those two players are fit and ready, but the supporting cast, which includes the likes of Channing Frye, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson and veteran Richard Jefferson are also ready to battle. Iguodala got his shot going in the second half, knocking down a pair of third-quarter three-pointers, six of his 10 second-half points.
