They are going to battle. It’s up to the Cavaliers to show they belong on the same court with the defending champions. James had nine assists, but he had even more opportunities to find open 3-point shooters rather than forcing shots against great defenders. Such is life on Planet LeBron, the most scrutinized, most followed, most nit-picked athlete in America. “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”. Well, as great as we could for 48 minutes. Unfortunately, for National Basketball Association fans, they might have already gotten their “special” playoff series in the Western Conference finals.
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How about James raising eyebrows with his cryptic tweets, public challenging of teammates and midseason refreshes in South Beach?
In a 90 second period Bogut blocked a James jump shot, blocked opposing centre Tristan Thompson’s layup and blocked Kevin Love’s layup.
If the Cavaliers lose tonight, they are not mathematically eliminated, but the math is not in their favor. Sure, the Eastern Conference remains far less challenging on a night-to-night basis than the West. Still, here are few things takeaways from Game 1 that help explain what happened and what to look for when the series resumes.
After steamrolling through the Eastern Conference playoffs – pulverizing the Pistons, Hawks and Raptors – who could blame the Cavs for thinking they could catch a wobbled and tired Warriors squad. They have been pushed and prodded and poked at all season long.
“If we pick up the pace and play with a faster tempo offensively, I think we’ll be fine”.
“You don’t win championships without the entire squad coming in and making an impact on games”, Curry said.
What he will focus on is trying to avoid another 15-0 run by Golden State reserves.
“I didn’t feel as much anxiousness as previous year”.
“Starting with the 2009 playoffs, James is 9-0 in the second game of a playoff series after losing the first one, including winning Game 2 of the past four NBA Finals following a loss”. The team is now reportedly worth $1.1 billion. On the other, Curry and Thompson slogged through what will likely be their worst games all series, and the Warriors still won by double-digits. “That wasn’t an easy series by any means”.
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Although the competition will be close, it seems the momentum earned by the Warriors paired with the success they have had at home spells trouble for Cleveland. Previous year they took Game 1 and then dropped two straight to a James-led team missing Irving and Love due to injury. The Cavs made a late run to get back in the game, but Curry and Thompson made back-to-back 3s to put the game away. “Coach has given us a game plan, and we need to execute it”. We have that memory in our mind. “We understand you can’t let up ever”. They only had nine turnovers, an extremely low mark for a team that often struggles taking care of the ball, and their defense was also terrific, as it limited the Cavaliers to 38 percent shooting for the night. The key is to keep both from going off, and even if they have a big night, not allow those ageless wonders off the bench (Iguodala and Barbosa) to kill us.
