2017 NBA Finals: Game 1 recap and highlights

To start the 2017 NBA Finals, Kevin Durant led a dominant Game 1 victory for the Golden State Warriors, who beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 113-91.

After having an entire year to think about last year’s Finals collapse, the Golden State Warriors looked about as ready to avenge the defeat as one would expect. In a dominant Game 1 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night, the Dubs earned a 1-0 series lead with a 113-91 victory.

Kevin Durant was the best player on the court in the series opener, dropping a game-high 38 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while shooting 14-for-26 from the field. Stephen Curry used a big third quarter to finish with 28 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals while going 11-for-22 from the floor and 6-for-11 from downtown.

Draymond Green added nine points and 11 rebounds, and even though he and Klay Thompson went a combined 6-for-28 from the field, Golden State’s defense was absolutely smothering against the No. 1 offense in the playoffs through the first three rounds.

LeBron James led the Cavs with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, but also committed eight of his team’s 20 turnovers. Kyrie Irving added 24 points, while Kevin Love had 15 points and 21 rebounds.

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The Warriors finished with 31 assists to only four turnovers, tying an NBA record for fewest turnovers in a Finals game — all while holding Cleveland to 34.9 percent shooting from the floor. Outside of the Cavs’ Big Three, the rest of the roster scored only 23 points.

In the first quarter, Game 1 jitters seemed to get the best of the Warriors’ offense, with several missed layups and wide open threes getting things started. Zaza Pachulia in particular looked out of sorts, hesitating to put the ball up on open looks at the rim out of pick-and-roll action.

Draymond Green picked up his second foul just 4:32 into the first quarter, bringing Andre Iguodala into the game.

Despite concerns about how spry he’d be in this series, Iggy was an instant difference-maker early in Game 1. He finished with only seven points, but played terrific defense on LeBron in his 24 minutes.

JaVale McGee was another X-factor off the bench, providing the Dubs with second chance opportunities on the offensive end. He finished with four points and five rebounds in just six minutes, and it was somewhat curious the Warriors never went back to him.

His twisting, 180-dunk was the shining moment in a strong first half effort for him. It certainly doesn’t look like he’s too dumb to play in this series, eh anonymous Cavs player?

Unfortunately for McGee, all anyone paid attention to was LeBron’s posterizing dunk over him on the ensuing possession.

The struggle King James will face in trying to carry the offense, play damn near 48 minutes a night AND defend Durant was on full display early on.

At that point, Stephen Curry made matters worse for Cleveland when he started to get hot, pulling up on LeBron in transition to bury the triple.

An Iguodala three-pointer to close the first quarter put the Warriors up 35-30. The biggest key was Golden State’s eight offensive rebounds leading to 12 easy second chance points.

Curry and KD each had 10 at the end of the first quarter, but LeBron’s 13-5-3 stat line and Cleveland’s 8-for-10 shooting at the foul line (compared to 0-for-2 for the Dubs) kept the Cavs within striking distance.

In the second quarter, Golden State managed to go +2 despite starting without KD or Curry on the court.

After playing the first 14:22 of game time, LeBron took his rest and the Cavs quickly started to fall apart. Golden State extended its lead to 10, with Cleveland’s bold strategy of leaving Kevin Durant wide open on the break not exactly paying dividends.

Durant had six first half dunks, boasting a 23-6-4 stat line by halftime.

It was a litany of good signs for the Warriors in the first half. Despite missing 15 layups, the Dubs still outscored Cleveland 42-16 in points in the paint. Despite shooting just 3-for-13 from three-point range (23.1 percent), the Warriors had a 60-52 advantage at the break.

Despite Draymond Green and Klay Thompson shooting a combined 2-for-15, the Warriors played tremendous defense, racked up 20 assists and committed only one turnover. And despite LeBron’s 19-11-4 stat line, his seven turnovers (of the Cavaliers’ 12) led to 18 more shots for Golden State.

Even worse, LeBron and Kyrie both picked up their second fouls right before the half, while the Dubs enjoyed 11 offensive rebounds and 14 second chance points. If not for Kyrie and LeBron’s combined 36 points (compared to 16 for the rest of the roster), the Cavs would have been doomed.

The Dubs got off to a fast start in the third, igniting a 13-0 run right off the bat to extend the lead to 21. Cleveland’s first points of the second half didn’t come until more than four minutes in.

The Cavaliers were able to chop the lead back down to 15, but Curry started heating up again with 15 points by himself in the third quarter.

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Cleveland, meanwhile, finished the period with just 20 points and trailed 93-72 heading into the final frame. They converted just 13 of their 30 looks at the rim through the first three quarters, due in large part to the rim protection of Draymond and KD.

Curry had 26 heading into the fourth, while KD led all scorers with 30. LeBron had a 26-15-7 line, while Kyrie Irving’s three to close the third quarter gave him 22 points.

With LeBron back in to start the fourth, it was do-or-die time for the Cavs. Unfortunately, after chopping the deficit down to 18, a Durant three-pointer in transition bumped it back up to 21 with 4:07 to go, all but putting the game out of reach.

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After the convincing Game 1 win, most are ready to jump ship and declare the series over, but don’t forget, something similar happened in Game 1 of the Finals last year. Game 2 will be Sunday at Oracle Arena.