In a season when Curry has been unstoppable, and Golden State has exploited the 3-pointer more than any team in National Basketball Association history, the Warriors beat the Cavaliers, 104-89, in Game 1 of the Finals, with everyone else and every other way.
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Golden State kept Cleveland to only 35.7 percent shooting in the first half on the way to a 52-43 half-time lead.
Curry and Thompson, in fact, found themselves on the bench as the Warriors broke open Game 1.
The Golden State Warriors stomped the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight, but the DubStars who took care of business were not necessarily the usual suspects!
The Warriors sent a statement to the Cavaliers that the “Strength In Numbers” message on those gold shirts that were draped over the seats at Oracle Arena is so much more than just a catchy slogan.
That’s one of the many adjustments the Cavaliers have to make.
The Warriors’ supporting cast help seal the win. “So it’s a great sign, obviously, that we can win in the finals without those two guys having big games, but it’s not really that surprising to us”.
“We didn’t finish around the basket, so we’ve just got to keep playing the same way we were playing”, Lue said. We feel good. We feel good.
Call this one simply a benchmark win for the Warriors.
For all the talk of two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry and Cleveland’s four-time NBA MVP James stealing the show, the Warriors reserves produced their share of the points when it mattered most. The Cleveland Cavaliers wanted to make sure the other Warriors besides the Splash Brothers (Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) beat them, and they certainly did that.
Livingston wasn’t alone: Leandro Barbosa, who managed just 13 points in total against OKC, hit for 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
The Cavaliers had come back to take the lead in the third quarter, and Curry just couldn’t find the mark.
The barrage came early in the fourth quarter, but it was not the kind everyone was expecting. Livingston topped all Warrior scorers with 20 points. Once Livingston got hot, the 10-year vet couldn’t be stopped. That’s his game, but moving the ball is the smarter way to play.
So naturally, Kerr went ballistic, taking his aggression out on the poor whiteboard in front of him.
The ref who worked last year’s Finals and isn’t back this year is Joey Crawford, who retired this season after an injury.
“Destruction tends to ease some of the anger”, Kerr quipped. So it’s better that way. Iguodala was everywhere-in the head of Cleveland’s best player, not least of all.
“I thought our guys did a great job of locking into those guys”, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.
But what’s also unlikely to continue is Curry and Thompson missing so many of their shots.
But the Cavs still lost by a wide margin and had no answer for the Warriors surge that seemingly comes every game. Meanwhile, the Cavs’ bench had just 10 points.Andre Iguodala is the anchor of Golden State’s talented and deep second unit. The Warriors are the better TEAM, even if King James is the best player on the court. We played some good basketball for 36 minutes, and the fourth quarter got away from us. “This has been our team the last couple of years”.
It’s too soon to bury James and the Cavaliers. The Warriors struggle with size, and Green is two technical fouls or one flagrant foul away from a mandatory suspension, meaning his typical strategy of physically assaulting opposing big men will not be in play.
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It’s back to the drawing board for the Cavs.
