2015 NBA Finals: Game 1 Recap

Thirteen down, three to go.

It’s been 40 years since the Golden State Warriors were in the NBA Finals, but they just managed to take care of business in overtime in Game 1, padding their phenomenal home record to 47-3 during the 2014-15 campaign and taking a 1-0 series lead in the championship opener.

In a 108-100 overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Stephen Curry led the way with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting while Klay Thompson followed up with 21 points. The MVP for the Warriors, however, was undoubtedly Andre Iguodala, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench while defending LeBron James all night.

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LeBron got his, scoring a personal NBA Finals career high 44 points, but it took him 38 shots to get there and by the time overtime rolled around, he looked gassed. The Warriors took Cleveland’s best shot (and possibly LeBron’s) and weathered the storm despite getting off to another slow start at home. Even worse, Kyrie Irving‘s health could be an issue after exiting the game late in OT.

The game started off sloppy on both sides, with each team letting shots fly left and right as they tried to settle their nerves. The Warriors got off to a decent enough start, building an early 11-9 lead. But the Cavs went on a 17-2 run from there to build a double-digit advantage, eating Golden State alive on the glass and playing tremendous defense in the process.

An Andre Iguodala drive to the basket and dunk cut Cleveland’s lead to 29-19 at the end of the first, with the Warriors shooting an abysmal 6-for-21 from the field in the first period. LeBron James had 12 first quarter points and his team out-rebounded the Warriors 17-9 in the quarter.

But the Warriors’ second unit, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both on the bench, began to right the ship. An 8-0 run bridging the end of the first and the start of the second quarter pulled Golden State within six points, giving the starters a much-needed chance to rest and get more acclimated to the big stage.

Marreese Speights provided a big boost off the bench, knocking down his first two shots and putting up six quick points in four minutes. When the starters re-entered, plays like Draymond Green backing down LeBron James deep in the paint:

and Stephen Curry’s corner three to tie the game sent Oracle Arena into a frenzy. Curry came to life at that point, decimating the Cavs in transition with a step-back three to give the Dubs their first lead since 11-9. There really wasn’t anything Iman Shumpert could do about it.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Curry was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from downtown and scored or assisted on 18 of the Warriors’ last 20 points in the second quarter.

Cleveland responded, however, capitalizing off a couple of wide open Shumpert three-pointers off of broken plays. The teams traded buckets until a Draymond Green dunk tied the game at 48 with 10 seconds left. Head coach Steve Kerr opted to foul since the Dubs had one to give, which gave Green his second foul.

But J.R. Smith cares not for smart basketball strategy, and drilled a deep three off the inbounds play to give Cleveland a 51-48 halftime lead:

LeBron had 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting at the half, while Curry led the Warriors with 14 on 6-of-10 shooting. The Dubs out-rebounded Cleveland 15-5 in the period.

In the third quarter, LeBron James came out firing, scoring 12 points in the period and getting anything he wanted in the paint. The Warriors hung tough and made him miss a few times when he pulled up, but for the most part, King James was asserting his will on the block with a number of backbreaking, breathtaking shots in the paint.

Draymond Green picked up his fourth foul reaching on a LeBron shot after the King got away with a bit of an offhand push late in the third.

On the other end, the Cavs put Kyrie Irving on Klay Thompson and Kerr immediately started getting him looks to get the Splash Brother going. Tristan Thompson continued to own the boards, with five offensive rebounds through three quarters, but Andre Iguodala poked the ball away from LeBron and threw down a dunk at the end of the period to tie the score at 73 heading into the fourth.

Iguodala kept the momentum going to start the fourth, knocking down a three-pointer to give the Dubs a one-point lead and then finding a wide open Shaun Livingston for a dunk to put Golden State up 78-75.

Unfortunately, even after a nice block on J.R. Smith on the next possession, Leandro Barbosa committed back-to-back turnovers to prevent the Warriors’ second unit from building a lead. He was quickly subbed out for Thompson.

At that point, LeBron began to really asset this will down low, scoring six of eight Cavaliers points during a stretch that saw Cleveland build an 86-82 lead. An Iguodala three-pointer with one shoe on cut it to one, Kyrie Irving knocked down a triple of his own and back and forth they went with both teams trading blows that might have knocked out a lesser opponent.

Just when the Warriors thought they had some breathing room with a three-point lead, LeBron responded with a big triple to tie the game at 96 with 2:36 to play. Curry responded a few minutes later with a jumper from the top of the key to break the tie with 53 seconds left.

James found Timofey Mozgov cutting to the basket on the following possession and he was fouled trying to dunk over Andrew Bogut. Mozgov made both free throws to tie the game at 98 with 32 seconds left.

On the following play, Curry burned Kyrie and had a clear path to the basket, but Irving made the extra effort to recover and blocked the ball from behind with a clutch defensive play. The Cavs grabbed the loose ball and called timeout with 24.1 seconds remaining.

On the final possession, LeBron missed a fallaway jumper and Shumpert missed the followup desperation shot from the corner, sending the game to overtime.

The OT started much like regulation did (sloppy), but two Stephen Curry free throws broke the tie and gave the Dubs a 100-98 lead with just over three minutes to play. Both teams traded ugly misses until Curry drew another foul and knocked down two more free throws to extend the lead to four.

Kyrie Irving tried to pull up on the other end with a crossover, but lost his footing and went down. He got the ball to J.R. Smith, who missed the jumper. That led to a Harrison Barnes corner three to extend Golden State’s lead to seven with 2:02 to play, but even worse, Kyrie Irving came up hobbling on the play. He left the game and went to the locker room, looking like he was in quite a bit of pain.

The Cavaliers missed 12 straight shots extending from the fourth quarter to overtime and went 1-for-9 from the field in OT. Kerr’s plan of letting LeBron getting whatever he wanted and tiring him out eventually worked, as the Cavs didn’t score in overtime until his layup cut Golden State’s advantage to eight with eight seconds left.

Irving finished with 23 points in the game, and hopefully they won’t be his last points of the series. Timofey Mozgov added 16 points, but Golden State’s bench outscored Cleveland’s reserves 34-9.

Game 2 of the 2015 NBA Finals will be Sunday, Jun. 7 at Oracle Arena.

Next: Golden State Warriors: 5 Lessons From NBA Finals Game 1

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