After what seemed like the longest drought of NBA Playoffs I have ever had to endure between the months of April and June in my life, the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors tipped off. We knew from the get go that LeBron James and Stephen Curry would be big names to look for in these Playoffs and they showed up in Game 1.
The 8 day Playoff absence really bothered both teams in the 1st quarter, but especially the Golden State Warriors who ended the first quarter with 19 points and down 10, to a way more experienced Cavaliers team. The Cavaliers have a total of 14 Finals appearances together while the Warriors have 0, so it makes a huge difference. Throughout the rest of the game it was both teams adjusting to the different offensive and defensive scheme’s being thrown at them. The Golden State Warriors struggled to score the ball offensively with the exception of Curry, Thompson, and Iguodala, who had 26,21, and 15 respectively to finish the game. At the end of the half the Cleveland Cavaliers walked into the locker room with a 3 point lead after a J.R Smith buzzer beater.
The second half was the same way, both teams were slow to start out but regained momentum, and so did LeBron James. LeBron ended up finishing the game with 44 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. A couple interesting statistics about LeBron’s James 44 point outing. He becomes 3rd all time in 30+ points in a Playoff game. He’s the last player to score 40+ in the Finals since Kobe Bryant in 2009. It was his best scoring game since he last played the Golden State Warriors. It was the most points he had scored in 3 quarters. They still lost the game. When it came down to it in the 4th quarter, Curry’s clutch factor and poise led them to victory, while LeBron’s ‘pass-first’ mentality late in the game caused him to make faulty errors. The game was forced to over time by a Kyrie Irving block and a missed LeBron James jump shot, but in the Overtime it was all Golden State Warriors. The momentum had been sucked out of the Cavaliers hands. Final score was Warriors 108 Cavaliers 100.
The game was close to the very last-minute, but the worst thing happened for the Cleveland Cavaliers when the game was practically done, Kyrie Irving got hurt. He seemed to have hurt his already injured leg. Kyrie is going through an array of leg and knee injuries that seem to have riddled him these Playoffs and with Kyrie now seemingly questionable for the Cavaliers in Game 2, the Cavaliers season is questionable as well. Game 2 will be Sunday in the Oracle where LeBron will try to shoulder the Cavaliers offense to lead them over one of the greatest designed teams ever statistically. Should be a fun series.
