The Warriors put up another dominating performance and jumped out to a 2-0 lead heading to Cleveland. Irving went 1-for-9 in Game 1 in possessions that involved one pass or fewer. Without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, James led the Cavaliers to two wins in the series.
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Since 2009, in every playoff series that James team lost the first game, his team won the next game, including the NBA Finals. Two of the game’s most intelligent and versatile players, each one almost notched a triple-double in the series opener.
Draymond Green led all scorers Sunday with 28 points.
The Cavaliers and Warriors tip off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time today. No foul was called on the play (the resulting action actually produced an and-one finish for Draymond Green), but the collision sent Love to the floor in a heap.
Golden State has extended its lead to 69-53 in the third.
The next day at Cleveland Cavaliers practice, a day before Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, James reflected on Ali’s legacy both inside and outside the boxing ring, and the different things he has meant as James has gotten older. The Cavs have to be balanced to be successful and they will get their three-point shooting attack back. Ratings across the NBA’s national broadcast partners – ABC, ESPN and TNT – rose an impressive 8 percent to approximately 1.9 million sets of eyes per game. The Cavs can do their best to slow down the Warriors while also getting into their offense earlier.
“When you’re outscored 45-10 in bench points and give up 25 points off turnovers, you’re not winning that game”, LeBron James said. But he’s a better alternative than riding Tristan Thompson for the opening 14 1/2 minutes of the second half, as Lue did.
Only one game has been played so far in this series. The frustration in LeBron James proved palpable. Klay Thompson has added 17 and Stephen Curry has chipped in with 15. Jefferson scored 12 points off the bench in 26 minutes.
Still, he managed nearly single-handedly to push the Warriors to six games, earning himself votes for Finals MVP.
Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry haven’t got completely on track. But Andrew Bogut has. The Warriors center walked off the court to a standing ovation with his first rest of the quarter, and deservedly so. Once out of trouble, Golden State is playing with a 4-on-3 advantage from its angle of choice. James played in his 194th postseason game, passing Karl Malone and Danny Ainge (193 each) for 10th place on the career list.
On the other side, Swish – who didn’t even attempt his first field goal until the 1:51 mark of the second quarter – struggled to find his shot all night.
The Cavaliers had no answer for Barbosa in Game 1. A photo montage was played as well just before the national anthem.
“He’s great at doing that, for sure”, James told reporters. Typically, when the Cavs do that they win. “You mix and match a little bit”. Matthew Dellavedova got Iguodala in the same area in Game 1. The Splash Brothers combined for just 20 points in Golden State’s Game 1 victory.
“I’ve often said there’s more great stories in losing locker rooms than winning locker rooms”.
What we do know is that what’s happening in Oakland right now is transcending the game of basketball as we know it. Once the financial bottom line of the Association itself is impacted, you know something big is happening.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing”, West, who is a member of Golden State’s executive board, said Saturday at Oracle Arena.
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Including last year’s Finals and the regular season, the Warriors have now dropped the Wine and Gold on six straight occasions.
