Alright, welcome in to the full recap of game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors where the Warriors take game 1 of the NBA Finals thanks to the team's balanced effort to close out the game in OT with 100-108 victory despite LeBron James pouring it on, finishing with a 44 point performance for the Cavaliers.
Now that's how you start off an NBA Finals! The Cavs looked like they had it in the bag early on, but the Warriors kept fighting and fighting. Both teams were caught in a deadlock, but the Warriors in some way pulled it off when LeBron was going off for the Cavs. Warriors almost shut out the Cavaliers in OT, barely allowing a point before they just gift wrapped two for LeBron to add to his great performance.
Cleveland Cavaliers
(+)
LeBron James, 44 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 18-38 shooting. Five finals appearance are paying dividends for LeBron as he's leading his inexperienced team. He set the tone early on, scoring 12 points in the first quarter and from then on, he was just unstoppable. The Warriors put one guy, two guys, even all five guys, but LeBron managed to make his shots look easy. In the game's entirety, the whole offense for the Cavaliers this game was all LeBron. Whether he can duplicate this kinds of performance next game remains to be seen because with Irving's injury, the offense is going to revolve around him just like his previous tenure with the Cavs.
Kyrie Irving, 23 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 10-22 shooting. Irving's injury is something you don't want to see as an NBA fan, especially if you're a Cavaliers fan. In his finals debut, Irving managed to hold his own against Curry. The block on Curry to set up the game into OT may have been his defining play in the finals. Aside from that, Irving had a solid game scoring-wise and he was basically LeBron's only help as well as Mozgov this game, but how rare do you see Mozgov have games like that? Irving's injury could deal a huge blow for the Cavs if he's not ready to go for the rest of the series.
Tristan Thompson, 15 rebounds. The rebounding definitely falls into Cleveland's favor and Thompson was responsible for a majority of them. Like I said before, Thompson has developed to be a rebounding machine in this playoffs and look for him to continue that throughout the series as he uses his size and hustle to exploit an undersized Warriors team.
(-)
J.R. Smith, 9 points, 3-13 shooting. If there's one flaw that the Cavaliers have in its finals, it's the bench. The Cavaliers bench was completely outscored by the Warriors bench 34-9 and those 9 points were contributed solely by J.R. Smith off the bench. Smith had a solid start, but the shots he usually make at an impossible angle were not falling throughout the game. If the Cavs want to have a chance, Smith has gotta have one of those scoring nights to carry inefficient bench of the Cavaliers.
Golden State Warriors
(+)
Andre Iguodala, 15 points, 6-8 shooting. Coach Steve Kerr said that Iguodala is the Warriors' security blanket and he lived up to that reputation in his first finals game. Iggy lead all bench players in scoring with 15 points and every bit was crucial for the Warriors to get back in this game. Though LeBron was unstoppable the whole, Andre was the one who even came close to stopping his onslaught and he has successfully done so in critical times for the most part of the game. If he can have nights like this off the bench, as well as the other players such as Livingston, Speights, and Ezeli keep contributing at opportune time, the Warriors might end this sooner rather than later.
Stephen Curry, 26 points, 8 assists, 10-20 shooting. The MVP of the league did not necessarily have a "wow" performance in his finals debut, but it was still a solid all-around game for Steph Curry. He got off to a slow start, but when the bench for the Warriors was giving the team a spark, so did Curry. Curry will get those double-figure points regardless. He did not put up a performance like LeBron did, but he does what's best for the team in crucial times, whether hitting a dagger three, dishing it to an open man for an easy shot, or in this case, making key free throws when it matters the most.
(-)
Draymond Green, 12 points, 4-13 shooting, 5 fouls. I can see why some Warriors fans see Draymond Green is somewhat of a pain. Yes he brings the energy and the passion, but sometimes his head is not where it's supposed to be. Defensively, he was okay, some fouls he committed were ticky-tacky and all in part of LeBron flopping, but offensively Green was throwing wild shots. Most of them were supposed to be layups, but they didn't look like layups considering he's just throwing it up there. There were also times he had other white jerseys behind him or in front of him, but he doesn't give the ball up.
Conclusion
The best start to a finals you can ask for. The Warriors had some nerves running, but as the game flowed they start to wear down and they went back to their basic fundamentals of playing great defense and having a balanced effort on offense. Whether it disappears in the upcoming games is a question left unanswered. The bad news for the Cavs is that Kyrie Irving's injury may be serious considering the way he limped off the court, but the good news is they still have LeBron James. Keep in mind, when down 1-0, LeBron tends to rally his troops and they respond in a big way to tie up the series. It has happened in 2012, 2013, and 2014 and he's looking to continue that streak by giving the Cavs a win for the upcoming game 2 on Sunday. I'll see you guys for that game and hopefully, I don't screw up again with the time like last year's game 2. That was horrible. Game 2 starts at 5:00 PM Pacific time people! I'll see you guys later.
No comments:
Post a Comment