While the Cavaliers managed to restrict the impact Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson had, James conceded that his side’s loss can be attributed to the fact that they could not contain the Warriors’ bench.
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Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp reported Thursday’s Game 1 recorded the best ratings for an opening title tilt since the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers produced a 15.2 overnight when they met in the 2001 NBA Finals on NBC.
Golden State’s 3-point defense, however, was a big factor in the outcome, as the home team held the 3-point happy Cavs to just 7-of-21 shooting from distance.
All of the talk for the Cavaliers headed into the rematch was about the ability of Irving and Love – two defensively deficient players – to keep the high-scoring Warriors in front of them.
Even watching Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson morph from the greatest shooting tandem in National Basketball Association history into a pair of brick layers wasn’t enough to rattle the seemingly unshakeable coach.
The telecast broke ABC’s previous record (12.9) reached past year in the NBA Finals opener between the same teams, and was up 26 percent from Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals (10.4) between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Andre Iguodala had 12 points while Leandro Barbosa added 11.
Kerr’s rationale for the smashed whiteboard, the second time he’s done that this season (that’s been captured by cameras), was even better than watching his anger crystalize around the object.
The Cavaliers had come back to take the lead in the third quarter, and Curry just couldn’t find the mark. But Kerr trusted the depth of his team, and let his reserves take center stage for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.
“He obviously plays the matchups well”, Livingston said. He popped in 20 points. They haven’t been tested, they say.
“I just told LeBron I need him to play faster”, Lue said. Thompson averages 26.2 points per game. “So we’ve got to do a better job with that, which coach Lue and the coaching staff will make sure we do in Game 2”.
“Their bench played well”, Lue said. While the Warriors outlasted the Cavaliers, 4-2, in last year’s NBA Finals, this would totally be different because the Cavs have a formidable roster built primarily to compete against the small line up of Golden State.
“Don’t matter what you do with Steph and Klay, don’t matter what you do with Draymond (Green)”, James said.
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“I don’t think it will be a problem”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
