ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Three nights after eliminating the Oklahoma City Thunder from the 2016 Western Conference Finals, the Golden State Warriors (0-0) faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals for the second straight year in a row.
The Warriors were without James McAdoo (inactive) and Kevon Looney (left hip surgery).
The Cavs were expected to push the pace, a game plan which seemed to please most of the Warriors.
1st Quarter – Steady As She Goes
The Warriors won the tip and LeBron James’ defensive assignment to start out was Harrison Barnes, not Draymond Green as many writers guessed.
Green missed the opening shot, a three in and out, and Kevin Love answered with a three over Draymond, assisted by Kyrie Irving, to get things off the ground.
Barnes was a factor early on, as he took advantage of his size against defender J.R. Smith, drawing an “and-one” after Klay Thompson forced a turnover on Smith’s drive, then Barnes took Irving to the blocks and Green delivered a nice entry for another strong bucket.
Barnes added another power move past Smith for a layup, Love got a bucket inside on an entry from James, but Andrew Bogut responded with a tip-in of his own miss, then after Smith lost the ball on a late possession and as the ball was fumbled on the floor, the shotclock buzzer went off for a violation.
Then with Tristan Thompson switched out deep on the left wing, Stephen Curry gave him a jab step, Thompson slipped, and Curry launched from that location for three, giving the Warriors a 14-9 lead as Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue called timeout with 7:26 remaining:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Out of the timeout, the Cavs went to their bread and butter, LeBron, and he scored a strong layup on the right side, looking for an “and-one” call from the refs but not getting it.
Love managed to force the ball with the shotclock at nine to the backcourt, with Curry retrieving, but the Cavs fell asleep, the swing pass went to Green, and Draymond drove in unmolested and lobbed a high alley-oop to Bogut, who slammed it through with two hands:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
That gave the Warriors a 16-11 lead with 6:46 to play, but the Cavs made a mini-run as Irving hit a runner, Klay came back and missed a three in transition, perhaps ill-advised, and Tristan scooped up a missed attacked by James, with Bogut falling like a domino in the process, and got the reverse putback to cut the Warriors’ lead to 16-15 with 5:50 to go.
But out of the timeout, Steph dribbled off his own foot out of bounds on a crossover attempt of the switched Love, but atoned with nice defense on LeBron…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and after Irving missed a three, Andre Iguodala found Festus Ezeli for the easy dunk:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Green then disrupted an Irving-to-Thompson alley-oop, then got the reward on the other end with a triple from the top, although LeBron quickly answered with an unorthodox spin move in the lane for a bucket at the rim.
Draymond found Curry on the left wing for another three, this time on a catch-and-shoot…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and the Warriors were up by a touchdown, 24-17, with 3:49 left.
The Warriors had three nice sequences on defense in a row, but couldn’t capitalize, even after this foul by Irving on Draymond:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Steph held his ground against Irving on an iso, forcing a short-rimmed fadeaway on a runner, then Ezeli blocked Thompson, and Golden State forced another shotclock violation as James made one swing pass too many at the buzzer.
However, Curry turned the ball over and James went strong left side against Iguodala.
Later, after a Channing Frye missed three, Steph was double-teamed in the familiar deep left wing again, and Shaun Livingston cut away for a nice running jump hook that trickled in, giving the Warriors a 26-19 lead with 1:46 and prompting another timeout by Lue.
Out of the timeout, Iman Shumpert hit a catch-and-shoot three from Smith, Irving got a missed rebound and went the length of the floor for a nice lefty layup, Steph airballed a contested three form the familiar left side, but Irving turned it over back to the Warriors and Livingston hit a left-side jumper with 12.2 seconds remaining.
Irving missed from the right side on an attack that drew contact but no whistle, and Golden State held a 28-24 lead after the first frame.
2nd Quarter – Blurred
The Warriors got off to a fantastic start in the second stanza, aided by Leandro Barbosa…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and Shaun Livingston…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
But Barbosa stole the show, getting this “blurring” layup…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…then hitting a three while going “Empire State Of Mind”, tripping a referee…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Meanwhile, Klay finally got going, although he later sat down with his third personal foul, subbed out by Ian Clark, who came back out not too long thereafter…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Iguodala’s defense reached Finals MVP levels, stoppiong both James…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and Irving…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…which led to a fast break layup by Klay, giving the Warriors their largest lead of the night at 43-29 with 6:22 remaining, while also getting an impressive two-handed jam off a missed Curry jumper over LeBron:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
The Cavs’ Irving resorted to some holding on Steph off the ball, but Barnes stepped up on his own to nullify that effect:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
Bogut then manhandled Thompson down low for a putback:
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
But Love and Smith hit consecutive threes on nice extra passes and Cleveland fought back to a 49-41 deficit as Golden State head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with 1:46 to play.
Anderson Varejao helped turn the tide in the Warriors’ favor again with this charge on Love…
https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and the Warriors closed out the half with a Draymond triple up top. Afterwards, Curry and Richard Jefferson exchanged missed treys and Golden State held a 52-43 lead at halftime.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @jasminkaterealestate)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
