ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Nine days after sweeping the Spurs in San Antonio, the Golden State Warriors (0-0) were back at home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0) for Game 1 of the 2017 NBA Finals. Both teams were at full strength.
Q1: Slugfest, Then Stars Come Out
The game got off to a sluggish start as Zaza Pachulia passed up an open feed down low, Kevin Love threw up a brick against Klay Thompson’s smothering defense…
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Kyrie Irving ended the drought with a three at the other end and Pachulia finally made the first Warriors bucket on a tough lefty banker.
Kevin Durant then got going, hitting a runner then slamming home a lob from Draymond Green…
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A Durant-to-Pachulia two-hand smash, then a Klay-to-Andre Iguodala dunk prompted Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue to call timeout with 6:36 with the game still tied, 12-12.
After the timeout, Durant added a jumper from the top, assisted by Draymond, but Love found LeBron James, who had kept the Cavs close earlier with multiple trips to the line, for a jam.
Stephen Curry finally awoke, hitting a jumper, then “KD” added a dunk in transition after Irving lost the ball to Iguodala, giving the Warriors an 18-17 lead.
Durant continued his onslaught, catching a side-out inbound from Curry, cross-court from the right corner, stepping mercilessly past James on the right baseline, and slamming home another dunk:
[protected-iframe id=”7b25cb9528d7190fc2c77bdaa7783a93-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealgm%2Fstatus%2F870456125770084352″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Later, Klay tapped a miss by Durant to Steph, who found KD, who found JaVale McGee for a two-hand smash, but LeBron answered right back with a three from the top to keep the game tied, 22-22.
With Curry feeling active, Irving still blocked his attack to the rim, but McGee got a reverse dunk…
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Irving countered, getting the scoop just past JaVale’s help. Then after a Shaun Livingston turnaround bounced in and out, Tristan Thompson got blocked by McGee, Steph missed a scoop only to get tapped out by JaVale to the right corner where Curry tracked it down, pivoted, and buried a triple from the right corner to give the Warriors a 30-26 lead with 1:03 to play:
[protected-iframe id=”3da171820f7d1d9efacc08d578efce81-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbballbreakdown%2Fstatus%2F870454680689573888″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]After James drew free throws on a whistle while splitting a KD-Curry double-team, Steph went with a crossover and an in-and-out dribble to shake his defender, Tristan Thompson, and scored a lefty layup:
[protected-iframe id=”e8310ee2785399258eba48b07fbd0297-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjaeazizi%2Fstatus%2F870454661873926149″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Kyrie hit a pull-up on a pick-and-roll to lose Livingston, and Curry missed a reverse layup fed by Durant.
Fortunately for the Warriors, Livingston was there to grab the offensive rebound, reset back up top for KD, who then got fouled with 5.7 seconds to go.
But Iguodala got the catch on the inbound and drilled a three from the right arc at the buzzer, giving Golden State at 35-30 lead heading into the second stanza:
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James started the 2nd quarter and got the Cavs their first bucket, but then lost the ball on extra pressure from Draymond, and Iguodala made the cut assisted by David West, and got a dunk:
[protected-iframe id=”475180ce96cba33c32c8dad2f9c91c8a-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealgm%2Fstatus%2F870456209710526464″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]Later, Green drew a jump ball against Deron Williams, LeBron lost the ball again on the dribble, this time against Iguodala one-on-one, and Ian Clark got the cut and a foul by Williams to go to the line.
West charged into Jefferson on the next possession, but redeemed himself with a bully post-up assisted by Draymond, then Irving threw a lob too far for Love to get to, trying to manhandle Iguodala inside.
After several empty possessions, James, who had gone out earlier, came back in, as did Curry, and Kyle Korver missed a three, Durant rebounded, and went coast-to-coast for a dunk, smiling on the way back on defense:
[protected-iframe id=”aae3ce052736c0994727baac4fdc1999-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Frealgm%2Fstatus%2F870458600312889344″ width=”360″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″]That gave the Warriors their biggest lead, 43-34, with 7:07 left.
But Green missed a point-blank layup, one of several for Golden State on the night, Steph dribbled too much isolated on the right wing and airballed on the turnaround, and James scored on a breakaway layup to end the silence, Warriors acting head coach Mike Brown calling a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Draymond missed another layup on a cut, but blocked Love at the other end, and Livingston found Durant for another two-hand smash in transition.
Iman Shumpert, however, stepped up and drilled a wide-open three from the top as the Warriors gambled and Curry dared him to make, cutting a nine-point deficit to six.
Irving later pivoted beyond the arc and drew a foul on the make from Klay, but Golden State kept attacking, with KD finding Livingston on another cut, Thompson getting a reverse layup to drop on a cut past J.R. Smith, and after another Kyrie layup in traffic, LeBron made an ill-advised double-clutch on a layup, his last-second pass going straight to Klay.
The turnover led to another Durant jam, uncontested, at the other end, with the Red Sea parting:
[protected-iframe id=”e297fdbe3327a87d8002d9eef513ba51-114320562-10106876″ info=”http://twitframe.com/show?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjaeazizi%2Fstatus%2F870461233249476608″ width=”360″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″]Lue called timeout as the Warriors lead went back up to 55-45 with 3:15 remaining.
Out of the timeout, Love up-faked Draymond and stepped back for a triple from the left arc, after Green missed another layup on another cut.
Later, Steph got the iso up top against Love, broke him down and ended with a lefty scoop trickling in, Durant bullied Irving on the left baseline for a banker, but James drew foul shots on a whistle that could’ve easily been a charge on LeBron against Iguodala.
His free throws kept Cleveland close with a 59-52 deficit approaching one minute to play, Durant drew a charge on James a couple possessions later, but Steph missed a two-for-one step-back against Love from the left wing.
Korver and Klay traded misses from beyond the arc, and Golden State took a 60-52 lead into halftime.
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mkt594)
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