The Golden State Warriors took care of the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, a game where the Cavs blew a huge chance to steal home court advantage.
The Cavaliers are a great team.
The Warriors are just better.
That was the overriding storyline in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Cavs held a one-point lead with a minute and a half remaining in the third quarter, after the Warriors had opened up a 14-point cushion in the first half. Cleveland picked up their defensive intensity and started moving the basketball, which helped them get back in the game.
Additionally, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson struggling to get any sort of offense going, it was set-up for the Cavs to steal Game 1 and place all of the pressure on the defending champs.
Then, the Warriors decided to flex their muscle, just not in the way we have become accustomed to over the past two years.
Curry and Thompson didn’t start heating up and have spectacular final quarters. Instead, the Cavaliers got beaten in an area of the series where many thought they had an advantage.
The celebrated bench unit of Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert, Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, led by LeBron James, were never really given the chance to make an impact. Frye just played seven minutes, but with the way Golden State’s bench picked up the slack of their stars, it wouldn’t have made a difference.
The Warriors bench scored 45 points in Game 1, compared to the Cavs bench only mustering up 10. The 35-point differential was the largest in the past 50 years in an NBA Finals game, and it was the deciding factor when the game was still in the balance.
Golden State went on a 15-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth, erasing Cleveland’s lead before it even had time to breathe. The Warriors bench scored 13 of those 15 points, as they weaved and slashed their way through a hapless Cavalier defense.
Shaun Livingston led the way with 20 points, a playoff career-high, on 8-of-20 shooting from the field. The Cavs should be getting sick of Livingston. He made a similar impact against Cleveland on Christmas Day, where he scored 16 points and shot 8-of-9 from the field.
“The game ball goes to Shaun Livingston,” James said, via Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated.
It wasn’t just Livingston who burned the Cavs.
Leandro Barbosa was a perfect 5-for-5, scoring 11 points in as many minutes. Andre Iguodala contributed 12 points, while role players, albeit starters, Harrison Barnes (13) and Andrew Bogut (10) gave the Warriors an offensive spark.
“We definitely get a boost when our bench guys come in and change the game,” Curry said, via the NBA on ESPN Twitter account.
Now, you need to tip your hat to the Warriors role players. They stepped up and made plays and deserve credit.
If you’re Cleveland though, boy, what an opportunity gone to the wayside, or bayside, if that’s your thing.
The Cavs played a perfect defensive game on Curry and Thompson. Neither of them had any room to get open, as Cleveland’s defenders were able to fight through a sea of off-ball screens, sticking to the hip of both Curry and Thompson. The duo combined for 20 points, their lowest score in two years, while shooting 8-of-27 from the floor, including 4-of-13 from beyond the three-point arc.
Even when the Warriors got a favorable switch, such as Kevin Love guarding Curry, they couldn’t take advantage. Love, who some thought would be unplayable due to his defensive shortcomings, was admirable against Curry and Thompson. Ditto Tristan Thompson, who is Cleveland’s versatility weapon on defense.
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It was almost shocking in a way to see the All-Star backcourt struggle to this extent, after coming off terrific finishes in the Western Conference Finals. Furthermore, the Cavs let Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan go off on them at times in the Eastern Conference Finals, so to shut down Curry and Thompson was quite the accomplishment in Game 1.
And they still lost by 15 points.
Cleveland couldn’t capitalize on what was, up to the point, a respectful effort. While they started slow, the Cavs did get back in the game and take a short lead on the back on an upswing in defensive activity, which allowed them to get clean looks. They had stunned a raucous Oracle Arena crowd and seemed to have the game in their hands.
After the outburst from the Warriors bench, the Cavs stumbled, falling behind by as much as 20 in the fourth term. In a game where Curry and Thompson were rendered ineffective, Timofey Mozgov, Mo Williams, James Jones and Dahntay Jones all logged minutes, as the Cavaliers were forced to throw in the towel.
While the attention was on Curry and Thompson, the Cavs defense faltered in other areas. They allowed too many back door cuts and looked like lost rabbits in transition, failing to account for Warrior players. Subsequently, Cleveland’s offense, as it often does when things get tough, fell back into their isolation-heavy ways.
The Cavs weren’t perfect in Game 1, as James so bluntly put it, via Bill Livingston of The Plain Dealer: “25 points off turnovers. 35 points down (in bench scoring). That’s not a recipe to win on the road.”
You can bet the Cavaliers will be better in Game 2.
You can also bet Curry and Thompson will be better as well, which makes Game 1 a painful missed chance for the Cavs to take command in the series.