The defending champion Golden State Warriors drew first blood in the Best-of-Seven NBA Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers as they defeated the visiting Eastern Conference champion with the final score of 104-89. The game was held in one of the world’s loudest arena, the Oracle at Oakland, California. The highlight of the NBA Finals Game 1 between the Warriors and the Cavaliers will be added here once available online.
The NBA Finals Game 1 is considered as a rematch between last year’s two finalists, the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers, not because of the heroics of their superstars casts but by the help of the Warriors’ bench. The victory of the Warrior is now their sixth consecutive times the Warriors have beaten the Cavaliers, dating back to last June 2015.
During the Game 1 of the NBA finals, the point of emphasis for the Cavaliers was containing Stephen Curry as revealed by Cavs head coach Tyron Lue. Although the Cavs executed their plans of containing Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, the Cavs failed to materialize their dream of stealing a game from the Golden State Warriors.
One of the Warrriors’ bench players, Shaun Livingston scored with an impressive 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, while fellow bench player Andre Iguodala registered 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Leandro Barbosa tallied 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 mark from the field. All three players came off the bench.
Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 26 points on 7-of-22 shooting, LeBron was an assist short of a triple-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Love recorded 17 points and 13 boards. But the offense was isolation-heavy and very slow to find shots. There were repeated 24-second violations in the first half and lots of turnovers (15 total) as the Warriors collapsed on James and Love in the lane.
Unlike last year’s Finals, Cleveland is healthy. The Cavaliers went an entire year wondering what they could have done to the Warriors had they possessed a full, hearty roster.
The Game 2 of the Golden State Warriors and the Clveland Cavaliers will be aired this coming Sunday at 8:00 PM (US Time.)
Watch the Highlights Video of Game 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw9plynSS94