Golden State Warriors: 5 Lessons From NBA Finals Game 1

5 of 6

June 4, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) moves to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov (20) during the second half in game one of the NBA Finals. at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Warriors’ Froncourt Needs To Be Better

So far, it’s seemed like the Warriors were convincingly superior to the Cavaliers in Game 1, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, one area where many thought the Dubs would show up at their strongest — the dynamically defensive frontcourt duo of Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut — actually felt like the weakest link Thursday night.

Green and Bogut combined for 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting and pulled down 13 rebounds. Cleveland’s frontcourt duo of Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov, on the other hand, teamed up for 18 points (6-of-14 shooting) and 22 rebounds. That kind of disparity can’t happen.

On the offensive end, the distance between the two tandems isn’t insurmountable. But getting out-rebounded by nine and allowing Thompson to pull down six offensive rebounds really can’t happen any more.

Mozgov and Thompson really just ate Bogut and Green alive. It was uncanny and I didn't expect those guys to be overwhelmed.
— mhonkasalo (@mhonkasalo) June 5, 2015

The Cavaliers only had six second chance points in this game, but as we already covered, the Dubs are at their best when they’re pulling down rebounds and pushing the tempo (usually with ill-advised three-pointers in transition). Green probably should’ve won Defensive Player of the Year and has seen the likes of Anthony Davis, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Josh Smith in this postseason, making last night more confounding.

Tristan Thompson dedicates his energy to attacking the offensive glass, but Green has faced far better competition at the power forward spot en route to these Finals. Containing/helping on LeBron is priority No. 1, but after that, Green needs to make it his life mission to keep Thompson off the offensive boards.

As for Bogut, it’d just be nice if he wasn’t constantly getting posterized by Mozgov. (Just kidding, Bogut, since you had two blocks in Game 1. But in all seriousness, how many times did Mozzy streak to the basket untouched Thursday night?)

Next: No. 1

Home/Golden State Warriors