ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Golden State Warriors, Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals.
The Warriors took a 62-50 lead into halftime.
Q3: Steph Finishes What Zaza Started
Zaza Pachulia sparked the Warriors out of the gate, although Kevin Durant started the quarter with a three…
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[protected-iframe id=”72b17fa43414629a13ac8a0076bdfe42-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjaeazizi%2Fstatus%2F870468500187258880″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Pachulia then drew a charge on Tristan Thompson, which led to Stephen Curry running pick-and-roll up top with Pachulia and swishing from the top, forcing Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue to call timeout as the Warriors jumped out to a 67-52 lead with 9:46 remaining.
Golden State couldn’t capitalize on some brilliant hustle defense by Draymond Green…
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[protected-iframe id=”9d3bdd5b1851f233ee6b7fc7468a1229-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fnba%2Fstatus%2F870471526402977792″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]LeBron answered with a triple right back, then Love hit a three on an offensive tap from James, but Zaza struck again with a reverse flip shot on a feed from Steph:
[protected-iframe id=”01886355ab07eb5f794ceab7f4d2cae2-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fnba%2Fstatus%2F870471603599024128″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Curry missed his next trey attempt, and LeBron missed a jumper, only to recover the ball and slam it home with no one there to rim-protect, and that prompted Warriors acting head coach Mike Brown to call timeout with Golden State’s lead trimmed to 75-60 with 6:22 to play.
Out of the timeout, Steph was inexplicably left open out of another pick-and-roll…
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The lapse didn’t last long, though, even as Thompson missed again (3-for-14 for the game), and LeBron found Kyrie Irving on a cut for a layup to cut the Warriors’ lead to twelve, because Durant took Richard Jefferson off the dribble from the right wing, crossed him over with a step-back behind-the-back dribble, and swished the jumper.
Brown inserted James McAdoo, as he had done late with about thirty seconds left in the first half, and LeBron took him off the dribble, only to have Durant there for the help and the disruption at the rim.
Jefferson fouled Durant in the backcourt, not knowing the Cavs were in the penalty.
Then Durant blocked a drive by James, and Curry pulled up in transition from the top over Smith, high-stepping back on defense, and the Warriors re-established a stranglehold on the game with an 87-68 lead with just 1:52 to go in the quarter:
[protected-iframe id=”746b3be518baa34a35ce89c7943d9129-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealgm%2Fstatus%2F870473619750526977″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]James drew a foul but missed both free throws, Draymond Green posted him up on the left block after that, and drew a foul as he willed the ball in for an and-one:
[protected-iframe id=”a1e1be828dfd8c270e251a5f6d66b929-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealgm%2Fstatus%2F870474110517694464″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Later, after misses by Patrick McCaw late in the shot clock and a missed jumper by Deron Williams after a series of crossovers up top against Curry, the ball swung around to Draymond from the left arc and he buried it, the assist to McCaw.
Kyrie countered with a three and Steph missed a heave from beyond halfcourt, and Goldn State held a 93-72 lead heading into the final frame.
Q4: Maintaining The Margin
Cleveland couldn’t break the ice as the misses mounted on both sides and Golden State kept their lead at 96-74 with 8:57 remaining at the first timeout of the fourth quarter.
LeBron still couldn’t hit out of the timeout, missing two attempts, and the anti-climatic final quarter continued with a Durant outlet to a Draymond layup the only highlight, and the Warriors took a 100-80 into the next break with 6:05 to play.
Both teams started to get going as Curry got a layup, Love got a put-back, followed by a Kyrie dribble drive, but Steph came back on a break to Durant, who knocked down a triple:
[protected-iframe id=”8334ae136816f16f2ab8b58ad6d3b1a2-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjordangreer42%2Fstatus%2F870481376411361281″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]With 4:04 to go, Lue called a timeout and time was running out for the Cavs, still down 105-84.
KD added another back-breaker trey, although it was answered by Dahntay Jones who also hit a three, but Lue waved the white flag and James McAdoo hit a layup on a feed by Matt Barnes in garbage time.
Barnes tacked on another triple at a shot clock buzzer, Jones added two points from the line, and the Warriors (1-0) ran out the clock to win with a final score of 113-91 to take Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals over the Cavs (0-1).
Game 2 will be played in three nights at Oracle again.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mkt594)
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