He decimated them. He took their invitation and pummeled the Cavs over the head with it.
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For the past five seasons, the Golden State Warriors have been defined by the exploits of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Golden State Warriors backup point guard Shaun Livingston led the defending champs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals with 20 points.
No matter. Curry shot 4-for-15 and scored just 11 points, but won anyway.
“So in terms of the flailing, and we’re seeing a lot more late kicks and, frankly, players flailing their arms as well, it’s clear what they’re doing”.
Cavaliers update: Considering the way Cleveland rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs, it was surprising to see the Cavaliers attempt so few 3-pointers in Game 1.
Game 2 of the Finals is Sunday. Both of them are elite scorers, and playing against them usually engenders a feeling of inevitability, as you wait for them to get hot and start splashing unbelievable 3-pointers that become increasingly believable.
“This was a odd game for us”, Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said.
Green admitted that it was an “awful shot”.
“He’s a competitor”, Green said.
“They’re similar to us in terms of that explosiveness getting going with the three point shot”, he said.
Matthew Dellavedova says he is not an National Basketball Association brute on a mission to hurt, irritate or target opponents. “Like, that’s not me”. I mean, there is no doubt that there are particular teams, particular owners who have spoken out against any change whatsoever.
“This year, you know how to handle all that stuff now, get it right out of the way and focus on the game. Because usually when you don’t, it turns into a disaster”. The Warriors didn’t play that well Thursday, and they still won by 15 points.
There seems to be much more attention nowadays on the officials, with the game day morning news of who is assigned to a game drawing increasing interest.
“He’s great at doing that, for sure”, James said.
The Cavaliers didn’t play that great in the first half, particularly in the second quarter. When you have the ball on one side, they’re able to load and do things of that nature.
Kerr knows. James, who led the Cavs to a Game 2 victory here in last year’s Finals, lives for these type of moments.
Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving finds a roadblock in the Warriors’ Andrew Bogut.
After a back-and-forth third quarter, we headed into the fourth with the Dubs up, 74-68. He is in the NBA’s concussion protocol, and he must remain symptom-free through a series of progressive tests before he will be cleared to return. But it’s rare that a team has a chance to add a coach who can make as much of an impact as defensive assistant Mike Longabardi has throughout this playoff run for Cleveland. He was 2-for-7 and had three rebounds in his 21 minutes in Game 2.
Kevin Love made an impressive finals debut with 17 points and 13 rebounds after missing last year’s run with a dislocated shoulder that required surgery.
The narratives are swirling already.
The Warriors are even more threatened by the tone of the conversations. The Cavaliers have to make some adjustments to even make this series competitive.
The one thing they keep saying and keep proving is that they apply lessons from their experiences. But it was for none of those reasons that the Warriors now have a 1-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Lately, it’s not a matter of what for the Warriors.
That connection, the sense of what buttons to push and what whiteboards to smash, was all over Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
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“I just told LeBron I need him to play faster”, Lue said Friday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.
