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Durant stars as Warriors dominate Cavs in NBA Finals opener

In 2012, Curry signed a four-year, $44 million extension with the Warriors, a fairly small deal due to the concerns over his frequently injured ankles.

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Look out for the Bajan singer becoming the game one MVP towards the bottom right corner of the screen. We made a lot of mistakes.

There were a handful of times Cleveland was more focused on Curry and the 3-point shooters, but Durant made them pay with six first-half dunks.

LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all played well, combining for 67 points and 39 rebounds.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Chris Haynes, Durant is willing to take less than the max. salary to stay with the Warriors this offseason and keep their core together. LeBron had eight turnovers alone.

Once his night was finally done, Durant found mother Wanda at the end of the Warriors bench and held her in a warm embrace. Draymond Green, whose suspension in Game 5 previous year opened the door for the Cavaliers’ dramatic comeback, was scoreless through the first 35 minutes of the game and finished with nine. And the only win was in 2011, his first Finals game as a member of the Heat. His 38 points on 14-of-26 shooting did all the talking. “That’s what you dream about as a kid is to play at the highest level”.

Oddsmakers have the Warriors favored to dethrone Cleveland as the Cavaliers did to them a year ago, but the snub gives the Cavs something else to prove.

With four All-Stars, even if two have checked out offensively, as Klay Thompson and Green did in Game 1, combining for 15 points and 22 missed shots, the Warriors always will have two players ready to take over.

Instead of strict spread pick-and-roll, more misdirection and player movement from the weak-side is needed to force the Warriors to make complex rotational decisions and occupy the attention of the help-side rim protection. “We got to figure out how to combat that, which is going to be a tough challenge for us”. “So we just got to continue to play great team defence”.

Stephen Curry did his share by scoring 28 points with six 3-pointers and 10 assists as this sure-to-be thrilling trilogy began, a long-expected, spectacular grand finale envisioned ever since that July day Durant left Oklahoma City to join the loaded Warriors.

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When the Cavs tried to adjust in the third the ball just found its way back outside to Curry and Durant and both torched them from behind the three point line with a combined five in the frame.

Kevin Durant arrives with doubter-shushing Game 1 performance