This time, unlike in many of those 2015 games, Golden State did it while running a calm and focused offense. The Cavaliers did a poor job of that in Game 1.
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In the Cleveland Cavaliers 15 point loss to the Golden State Warriors in game one of the NBA Finals, J.R. Smith did not have one of his best games.
It made for a strong start while surrounded by those thousands of golden yellow “Strength in Numbers” T-shirts worn by the raucous fans throughout sold-out Oracle.
But it would be as stunning as a 3-pointer from Curry isn’t if the Warriors fail to win the National Basketball Association championship.
After trailing for most of the first 16 minutes, the Warriors were up by one before Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite an 11-point run that produced a 42-30 lead. We played some good basketball for 36 minutes. “We’re comfortable as a team playing together”. There will be a sense of desperation around the Cavaliers – if they go down 0-2 in this series it’s hard to imagine them winning four out of the next five games to take it. Stephen Curry often gets trapped above the arc, but this time Klay Thompson, he of the playoff 3-point shooting record, was getting that occasional treatment. He scored 13 points, had one rebound and two assists and came away with an ROI score of 4.88.
Livingston top scored with 20 points, with Iguodala (12) and Barbosa (11) also helping the Warriors’ cause. “Didn’t make it happen in the fourth quarter”.
Green had 18 points to lead all scorers in the half.
“It’s all about the mindset”, Livingston said. “Just to be able to kind of rotate is impressive”. The Cavs jumped in front and Kerr shattered his whiteboard with his marker like a judo champion breaking a stack of bricks.
“Destruction tends to ease some of the anger”, the Coach of the Year said.
“Destruction tends to ease some of the anger”, Kerr quipped. “So I try to take it out on a clipboard instead of a player”. So it’s better that way.
Now the pressure is on Cavs rookie head coach Tyronn Lue to make adjustments. The Cavs went all-in on crowding Curry and Thompson, leading to easy baskets for the rest of the team.
But the Cavs still lost by a wide margin and had no answer for the Warriors surge that seemingly comes every game. “Sometimes your offense dictates your defense, and the fact that we had 17 turnovers and that led to 25 points is not a good ingredient for our offense for sure”.
LeBron James (R) of the Cleveland Cavaliers fights for the ball with Draymond Green (L) and Klay Tho … “So I’m looking forward to seeing the film session and seeing ways we can get better going into Game 2, and I think our team will as well”.
Nielsen said ABC eclipsed the previous viewership high of 17,768,000 by eight percent, a mark set past year between the two teams.
Even more troubling for the Cavaliers is that the Warriors have not been the precise offensive machine they were during their 73-win regular season.
“We’re better than the Showtime Lakers”, he quipped, a friendly jab at former power forward father, Mychal.
“Their bench played well”, Lue said. “I’m not going to sit there and dribble around and take wild shots with two people on me just to get a shot off”.
One surprising message coming from the Cavaliers on Friday was a desire to increase the tempo in Game 2.
“Coach (Steve Kerr) actually texted me last night and said, ‘This is going to be a great series for you”.
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“There is a fine line”, James said on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
