A packed Oracle Arena in Oakland, California was the stage that was set as fans of the Golden State Warriors were bursting at the seams to see their team play in the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1974-1975 season. Their opponents, the Cleveland Cavaliers, enter the NBA Finals matchup hoping to win their first title in franchise history. Both teams boast plenty of star-power with MVP Stephen Curry on one side, and the face of the league LeBron James on the other. The time for speculation and predictions were done as Game 1 tipped off.
The Warriors came out to sluggish start early going down by as much as 26-13 and allowing multipe scoring runs by the Cavs throughout the quarter. James finished the quarter with 13 points to lead all scorers and the Warriors were struggling on both ends of the floor. The score at the end of the quarter was 29-19 in favor of the Cavs and it seemed as if we may have a blowout on our hands.
The Cavs would not be able to maintain the lead they had as the Warriors finally settled into the flow of the game. Golden State was able to use a 12-0 scoring run late in the quarter to give them the lead 41-36 with 2:58 left in the half. James and the Cavs would respond though and retake the lead to end the half with a score of 51-48. While the Cavs had the lead, the crowd and the momentum were in favor of the Warriors heading into halftime.
The start of the second half looked similar to the start of the game with the Warriors coming out slow again and spotting the Cavs a lead. Golden State responded and both teams began trading buckets. The Cavs were able to maintain the lead throughout the quarter until Andre Iguodala (15 pts, 3 rebs, 2 ast) stole the ball under 5 seconds left in the quater and dunked it to tie the game at 73-73. The Warriors finished strong for the second straight quarter and looked like they could be in control of the game going into the final quarter.
The 4th quarter was a slugfest between two heavyweight fighters. Both teams were firing on all cyanders and trading scores left and right. Star and role players were playing their parts as neither team held a lead bigger than four points at any time in the quarter. Timofey Mozgov (16 pts, 7 rebs) erupted late in the quarter to make sure that the Cavs stayed in it, tying the game at 98-98 with 31 seconds left. Both Lebron James and Iman Shumpert (6 pts, 4 stls) had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but both missed and the game went into overtime.
Overtime belonged to the Warriors. They used a 10-0 run to start OT which allowed them to take a lead that Cleveland never overcame. The ball movement and defense of the Warriors were crisp as they stifled the Cavs and did not allow them to score a single point until 8 seconds left. Kyrie Irving (23 pts, 7 rebs, 6 ast) seemed to suffer a knee injury when he knocked knees with Klay Thompson (21 pts, 6 rebs) early in the overtime period and made his way to the locker room in pain, he did not return. Down the stretch the Cavs played a lot of isolation basketball through Lebron James and had too many turnovers to be able to compete. Steph Curry finished with 26 pts, 4 rebs, 8 ast and 2 steals while Lebron James finished with 44 pts, 8 rebs and 6 ast. The Warriors take game 1 at home 108-100 in front of their home crowd and look forward to taking this momentum onto Game 2 this Sunday.
Other Contributors
GSW
Harrison Barnes (11 pts, 6 rebs)
Draymond Green (12 pts, 6 rebs)
Cle
Tristan Thompson (2 pts, 15 rebs)
J. R. Smith (9 pts, 4 rebs)