The Cavaliers boiled down out of frustration and Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were hitting big shot after big shot for the Warriors, even though it was their lowest scoring night of the season.
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“Obviously, the game ball goes to Shaun Livingston, he came in and gave them a huge spark”. But the Warriors’ bench outscored Cleveland’s reserves 45-10, including 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Andre Iguodala. Lue’s defensive game plan worked marvelously against Curry and Thompson, with the Cavs getting physical with the two-time MVP and forcing Thompson into early foul trouble to get him out of rhythm.
This year’s Finals rematch between the Warriors and the Cavs was hotly anticipated for many reasons, but violence wasn’t one of them.
NBA MVP Stephen Curry dribbles away from LeBron James as the Warriors win Game 1 of the NBA Finals going away, 104-89.
As the last quarter closed out and Curry and Thompson found their range for some crowd-pleasing bombs from beyond the arc, it became apparent that star power alone would not be enough to win this series.
Reserves scored all but two points for Golden State in the crucial run.
But Thursday night boiled down to the role players, with Shaun Livingston’s podium game compensating for an off-night from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who coached Golden State to the title last season and was a five-time champion as a player, also praised his team’s bench play and Iguodala in particular, saying the forward is “one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around”.
“Harrison has started for two years and it’s been a pretty good two years for us”, Kerr said.
“Just being aggressive”, said Livingston on ESPN after the game. Their Big Three can shoot more efficiently, they can all finish around the basket better, and the Cavs only hit seven three-pointers in Game 1 after making 10 or more in 12 of their previous playoff games.
The Cavaliers managed to stay within striking distance at 52-43 at halftime despite shooting just 35.7 percent in the first 24 minutes. James and Irving, meanwhile, shot just 37.5% and 30%, respectively, on “uncontested” shots – shots without a defender with 3.5 feet of them.
The Warriors relied on their defense and bench, while the Cavs struggled to find a spark from someone other than their top three players. But James was human Thursday while falling one assist short of a triple-double, with 23 points and 12 boards.
“This was a odd game for us”, Kerr said.
Irving led the Cavaliers with 26 points, but he was 7-for-22 and dribbles too much. Kevin Love had 17 points and 13 rebounds but went 7-of-17 shooting and Tristan Thompson added 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting plus 12 rebounds.
“When you’re switching 1 through 5, it makes you stagnant”, Lue said.
Thompson kept the positive momentum going for the Cavaliers when he slammed home an alley-oop dunk, and Love followed with a three-point play that cut the Warriors’ lead to one point, 63-62, with 4:36 to play in the period.
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“We had a chance in that third quarter to do something special, but we didn’t counter and do it”, James said.
