That’s the only way the Warriors’ record-setting season will feel right. For now, they sure seem unstoppable.
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The Golden State Warriors have made a roaring start to the National Basketball Association finals, winning Game 1 by a comfortable 104-89 margin.
And although he was picked seventh overall in the 2009 draft behind slam dunk extraordinaire and Los Angeles Clippers’ forward Blake Griffin, Curry’s size and demeanour, pundits and experts said, would work against him, especially in a league that hadn’t yet seen the 3-point shooting abilities of Curry and his teammate and fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson, and the revolution they would bring about. “That’s not how we’re supposed to think”. In fact, the Cavs needed more scoring in general as their bench was outscored by the Warriors by an astonishing 45-10 which was the difference in the end as the Cavs actually did a great job of holding the Warriors’ backcourt of Curry and Thompson to a combined 20 points.
“In transition we just have to match up with them”, Love said. “We didn’t win anything. No points of the game did we beat them in anything”.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals raised questions – “if the Cavaliers can’t win when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are off, when can they win? – but it did not provide a blueprint for the rest of the series”. He hadn’t exhibited any symptoms before then, even after taking an elbow to the back of the head from Harrison Barnes in the second quarter and going down for several minutes before returning following a timeout.
In ATS trends, the Cavs are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games and 0-4 ATS in their last four NBA Championship games, while the Warriors are 4-0 ATS in their last four home games and 4-0 ATS in their last four games overall. And they would know: Neither James nor Lue has ever won a Finals in which their teams won the first game. “So we’ll be better next game”. So you’ve got to find that balance, though. But none of them shot above 50 percent from the floor and they committed 11 turnovers between them. “We remain calm, but also know that this next game is huge for us”. Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 26 points but was only 7 for 22 from the field. He and Curry did get to joke about it.
“Stop it”, Green said with a chuckle.
“We missed nine point-blank layups when no one was around”.
What he will focus on is trying to avoid another 15-0 run by Golden State reserves.
Green credited the defense for holding down James and Co.
This close-knit band of backups regularly discusses how dependable they must be, telling each other to stay ready for any role.
Since last series, the Warriors have used the pick-and-roll primarily to get Curry onto a big man. But Irving isn’t known as a good defender and Curry could probably get what he wants with Irving on him – and the fellow guard probably wouldn’t be able to get away with the physicality big men are allowed.
Andre Iguodala, the 2015 finals MVP, took another hard hit to the groin in the first quarter on an offensive foul called against James, causing the Warriors forward to grimace in pain. The viewership number was the biggest for a Game 1 on any network since 1998.
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A moment of silence was held for late boxing great Muhammad Ali, who died Friday night at an Arizona hospital.
