Welcome in to the full recap of Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals where the Golden State Warriors mustered enough offense in OT to pull away against the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-124 despite an epic 51-point performance from LeBron James.
It's inevitable that the Warriors would take a 1-0 lead over the Cavs. But, it was a lot difficult for them than expected as long as the Cavs have LeBron as a one-man wrecking crew. Through all four quarters of the game, it was tightly contested and it certainly made the fourth consecutive meeting between these two interesting. Hypothetically speaking, the Cavs could've stole this game from the Warriors had George Hill made the 2nd free throw or J.R. Smith called the timeout after the offensive rebound off Hill's miss. Then again, anything can happen on the Warriors' side with the one timeout they had and 4.7 seconds left on the clock. Overtime showed why the Warriors are the clear favorites here and if you hang around with them past regulation, that's advantageous to them and they pull away.
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LeBron James, 51 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 19-32 shooting. You just knew that LeBron is gonna have to go beast mode to give the Cavs a chance against the Warriors. I'd say if the Warriors had a healthy Iguodala, it wouldn't have made a difference. He just add his way no matter how many different looks the Warriors threw at him on defense. Greatness was at work here. It just wasn't enough.
Kevin Love, 21 points, 13 rebounds. Kevin Love's return proved to be a boost for the Cavaliers and LeBron finally got some help. He struggled from deep, but he feasted in the key. Love posted defenders up and just threw up hook shots over smaller defenders.
Rebounding. Literally, this is the only advantage Cleveland has over Golden State and it is still the constant from the last three finals. They have the size to do that. This game, the Cavs destroyed the Warriors on the offensive boards 19-4. Outside of LeBron, the offensive rebounding number allowed Cleveland to hang around with all kinds of 2nd chance opportunities.
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One free throw/one timeout. As I said, even if the Cavs made the free throw, the Warriors still had 4.7 seconds remaining and a timeout to draw something up. But, that sequence in the final seconds of regulation was Cleveland's one shot to possibly take a 1-0 lead in these series. It would've added something a little different in the fourth consecutive meeting between the two teams. It's not more of George Hill's miss, but J.R. Smith's blunder to dribble out the clock after securing the rebound from Hill's miss, thinking they have the lead. Certainly, that drove LeBron and Tyronn Lue nuts considering they have one timeout left to draw up a game-winning play. J.R.'s gonna get a lot of roasts for the blunder.
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Stephen Curry, 29 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists. With Kevin Durant struggling early on and Klay Thompson exiting the game early, Steph Curry had to put up big scoring numbers. The former 2-time MVP showed that he was just that. Though overshadowed by LeBron's 51-point performance, Curry traded clutch shots with the Kings as the fourth quarter winded down and played a big part in the Warriors pulling away in OT.
Klay Thompson, 24 points, 5 three pointers. Lucky for Warriors fans that Klay was able to survive a major injury scare in the first quarter. In defense of J.R. Smith, that was unintentional and he did slip off the floor. But, Klay turned out to be okay, still able to move around, and still put up 20+ points.
Kevin Durant, 26 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 8-22 shooting. KD in the first half was terrible. KD in the 2nd half? Not so much. Durant made a nice adjustment coming into the 2nd half to take more shots inside. That created all kinds of mismatches for the Cavs' defense with Durant posting up on smaller defenders.
Draymond Green, 13 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks. Once again all members of the Warriors' big four made it to the positives. Draymond got the Oracle crowd all amped up by the end of the game. He stuffed the stats sheet once again and brought all kinds of activity on both ends of the floor, especially on defense.
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Bench. Shaun Livingston contributing 10 points off the bench erased some made up for the disappearance of the Warriors' rotation. So did JaVale McGee's start in the 3rd quarter until he went all Shaqtin'. They definitely miss Iguodala's leadership and veteran presence.
Conclusion
Well, with the Warriors needing OT to take down a one-man army, it definitely makes it interesting. But as I said, LeBron can put up legendary numbers, but it won't be enough since he lacks a strong supporting cast. The Cavs will be thinking "what-if" with the way the final seconds of the 4th quarter played out. Also, things can change that'll lessen the Cavs' chances. The scuffle Tristan Thompson had with Draymond Green and Kevin Love walking off the bench with 2.6 left in OT could possibly lead to some suspensions. If it does, the Cavs will be so shorthanded that LeBron's gotta drop a 70-point triple-double the next game to give the team a chance. All jokes aside, they did hang around and went the distance. But hang around with the Warriors too long and they'll start pulling away. I'll see you guys on Sunday for Game 2!
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