Welcome in to the full recap post of game 1 of the 2016 NBA Finals where the defending champion, Golden State Warriors, started to defend their title on the right foot, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 89-104 behind a stellar performance from the Golden State bench.
When the Warriors won the championship last year, the whole narrative was that they beat a depleted Cavs team. Everybody wanted to see what they can do against a healthy Cavaliers team this time around in this rematch. It didn't matter. The Splash Bros of Curry and Thompson did not beat the Cavs, even though they made timely buckets to seal the deal. The bench play of the Warriors was the difference maker and it made the team a whole different cat against a full-strength Cavs team.
CLE
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Kyrie Irving, 26 points, 7-22 shooting. The shooting percentage will say otherwise for Kyrie Irving's performance. But out of all the Cavs players, he got to the free throw line the most. He did a great job dropping contact from an aggressive Warriors' defense and slowing the game down a little by going to the free throw line to help the Cavs narrow the deficit down. The 3rd quarter was evident that he started to take over scoring-wise.
LeBron James, 23 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, 9-21 shooting. LeBron is going to always have these stats as long as he's on the floor. It's no surprise that he was just one assist shy of a triple-double. When LeBron is scoring on the inside, chances are he's going to win using his "freight train" size and power. LeBron put up typical LeBron stats, nothing much to be said.
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Supporting Cast. It was a problem in last year's finals and it has become a problem this game for the Cavaliers. With the exception of Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith was a non-factor this game. Frye, Shumpert, Jefferson, Dellavedova, they were all nowhere to be found this game. The Cavs may have finally gotten their Big 3 healthy and intact, but the rest of the team has to find a way to get involved and help out because they got outscored big time by the Warriors' supporting cast.
GSW
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Shaun Livingston, 20 points, 8-10 shooting. First off, I'll give a lot of credit to the Warriors' bench as a whole. As I said in my preview, they're going to be one of the keys for the Dubs' chances at a repeat. Leandro Barbosa was in double figures, Andre Iguodala, last year's Finals MVP was in double figures and doing it on both sides of the ball. Obviously, big kudos to Livingston for going off this game. The size and versatility he brings will give the Cavs all kinds of fits if he continues to have games like tonight. He's played well throughout the playoffs and you can't help but commend Livingston for coming this far since his devastating knee injury a few years back.
Defense. "Intense" is probably the most overused word to describe a defense that executed to perfection in a game. The Warriors' defense was in hibernation throughout the playoffs. But this game, they raised the intensity, generating 15 turnovers from the Cavaliers and holding them to under 100 points. Keep in mind the Cavs, were the hottest offense in the playoffs coming into these finals and the Warriors' stoned them with double teams, hustle plays, and throwing their bodies out there to draw charges or alter the Cavs' shot.
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Splash Bros. This is probably the first time in a long time that Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were held to under 20 points. It was a complete off game for both, but how the rest of the team played erased some of those deficiencies and eased the pressure of them doing too much. They should get going next game since a performance like this from the whole team comes "once in a blue moon."
Conclusion
Game 1 reminded us of how deep the Warriors team is. Curry and Thompson having underwhelming performances and the team still getting a double-digit victory speaks volumes about the depth for the defending champions. The Cavs managed to keep this game competitive, but they just had to execute better and it was obvious their offense was stagnant early on. It's going to be a long series for Cleveland if the rest of the team fails to show up like in this game. Next game should give them plenty of time to make adjustments and they've been very good at responding to a loss in the postseason. We'll see what kind of adjustments both teams make as Game 2 is usually a 180 degree turnaround for both teams. I'll see you guys on Sunday for the next game.
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