“There’s no question he kept them in the series”, West said about previous year when the Cavaliers lost Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to injuries. Golden State only really seemed to be challenged mid-way through the third, when Cleveland took its first and only lead of the game. Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 26 points but was only 7 for 22 from the field.
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Game 1 is set to start at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC, which can be found on WGGB (Comcast Ch. 4) in Springfield and WCVB (Comcast Ch. 5) in Boston.
“I did a lot of reflection past year, being in this position for the first time in my career”, he said.
Even with those late 3s, Curry and Thompson combined to score just 20 points.
Green had 28 points with five 3-pointers, seven rebounds and five assists, while MVP Stephen Curry scored 18 points despite foul trouble, and Golden State thoroughly overwhelmed Cleveland 110-77 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
The Splash Brothers? They totaled – gasp! Meanwhile, the Cavaliers couldn’t get anything going against Golden State’s defense, shooting 35.4 per cent overall and 21.7 per cent from three-point range and getting next to no production from anyone besides James. “At no point in the game did we win anything”. “That’s why we’re here”.
“It’s not like we have any control over them”, Golden State’s Draymond Green said.
Game 2 is Sunday night back at Oracle Arena, and James knows Cleveland must adjust immediately. Cavaliers starters outscored their Warriors counterparts 79-59 in Game 1, but Golden State’s reserves dominated the bench play 45-10….
It’s the NBA Finals, against LeBron James, with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and their teammates aiming to crown themselves as one of the greatest teams in sports history.
Shaun Livingston put up almost 100 free throws at the end of Friday’s NBA Finals practice, and that is somewhere around his norm. Can LeBron James and the Cavs step up and deliver a counterpunch? “I’m definitely surprised at the margin of victory tonight”, coach Steve Kerr said.
It was clear that Cleveland coach Tyrron Lue made a decision that he wanted to slow the game down and turn it into a grind-it-out, half-court contest. “This has been our team the last couple of years”.
The Warriors made a statement while surrounded by thousands of golden yellow “Strength in Numbers” T-shirts worn by their fans throughout sold-out Oracle.
“We are better than the Showtime Lakers”, Klay Thompson chimed in with a smile, taking a shot at his father who played on those Lakers squads. “They stay ready, and we’re lucky to be versatile and have a lot of options at our disposal, and our guys all stay ready for when they get their name called”.
James, who sat out the entire fourth quarter of the embarrassment, managed 19 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 34 minutes.
James said he would go back to his room and watch and re-watch the game. He shook his head in delight after a two-handed slam off a pass from Curry with 5:44 left and didn’t let an aggravating, hard hit to the groin by Matthew Dellavedova derail his focus for the final quarter.
But Iguodala got his version of revenge for the play with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving Golden State a 74-68 lead after three quarters.
“Look, our two main scorers, every now and then, very, very rarely, are going to have a game like this, but it’s up to other guys to carry the load and step up and make shots”, center Andrew Bogut said, “and numerous different guys can do that”. “Their bench played well. But everything was about our defense tonight, and I was pleased with that, but we’ve got to get better offensively when we go to Cleveland for sure”.
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“Last year, everybody was nervous and didn’t know what to expect”. Tristan Thompson struggles too much finishing near the rim.
