The Golden State Warriors’ NBA Championship title run got off to a roaring start Thursday night with a thrilling 108-100 overtime victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Game 1 played out pretty much as scripted. For the Cavs to have a chance to win the series, they would need a tremendous offensive effort from their star and four-time NBA MVP LeBron James. And that he did; James scored 44 points on 18 of 38 shooting on his way to recording his best post-season performance.SEE A SLIDESHOW OF KRON 4 VIEWERS SHOWING THEIR WARRIORS PRIDE
Meanwhile, the Warriors would need to coalesce defensively to contain James, and offensively to give their star player and this year’s MVP Steph Curry some help on offense. Which they did, but not after struggling in the first quarter to do both.
The Cavaliers started the game out strong, taking a 29-19 lead at the end of the first quarter led by James’ 12 points.
“We were prepared, and we had a game plan that we followed well early,” said Cavs coach David Blatt
James was hot in the first quarter shooting 4-for-9 and paralyzing defender Harrison Barnes and the Warriors defense.
“It was a slow start for all of us,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “You know, I just felt like the first quarter we looked nervous.”
The Warriors made adjustments in the second quarter and were able to battle back from a 14-point deficit and cut the Cavalier’s lead to just three points to end the half down 51-48.
“You have to kind of try to keep doing some different things with LeBron because he’s — I mean, he’s just so talented and can score in so many ways,” said Kerr.
Kerr decided to switch to a small lineup “to change the look a little bit, spread the floor.”
“After that slow start, we started to move the ball better. And we fought. That was the biggest thing. We just competed and stayed with it,” said Kerr.
The changes paid off for the Warriors, thanks in part to their bench which outscored outscored Cleveland’s reserves 34-9.
Both teams swapped the lead 13 times, a high for any Warriors playoff game this season. Tied at 98-98, the Cavs nearly pulled off the upset but James missed a jumper with about 3 seconds left in regulation. Iman Shumpert would miss a follow attempt at the buzzer.
By the end of the fourth quarter, James had 42 points, his most ever in the NBA Finals. Curry and Klay Thompson had combined for 43 on the other side.
But it was a different story in overtime. The Warriors scored the first 10 points of the extra period and held the Cavs scoreless until James’ meaningless basket with under 10 seconds to go.KYRIE IRVING INJURED
Kyrie Irving, who had 23 points for the Cavs, limped off the court with about 2 minutes left in OT. Irving looked to be in a lot pain heading to the locker room, throwing his jersey to the ground in frustration.
“Seeing him walk out of the locker room on crutches just now, that’s a tough blow for our team,” said James.
“This is the dream of every player, to come to the NBA Finals and perform and compete. So I hope he’s okay,” said Kerr.
Game 2 will be on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Oracle Arena in Oakland.Annie Andersen contributed to this report.NOTES:
Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr became the first coach to win Game 1 of The Finals in his first season as an NBA head coach since Mike Dunleavy and the Lakers defeated the Bulls in Game 1 of the 1991 Finals…The Warriors held the Cavaliers to two points in the overtime frame, tying the fewest a team has scored in overtime of a Finals game in the Shot Clock Era… Previously, the Lakers held the Pistons to two points on June 8, 2004, in Game 2 of the 2004 Finals… The two-point overtime period is the fewest an opponent has scored against the Warriors in any playoff overtime frame in the Shot Clock Era…Golden State’s bench outscored Cleveland’s 34-9… Tonight’s game marked the first time that Game 1 of the NBA Finals went to overtime since 2001, when the 76ers defeated the Lakers, 107-101, on June 6, 2001.