Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Warriors

To say the Cleveland Cavaliers let Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals slip away is an understatement, as they had their chances but wound up losing in overtime, 124-114.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were oh-so-close to pulling off a monumental upset in Game 1 of their 2018 NBA Finals matchup with the Golden State Warriors.

Down by a single point, George Hill was sent to the free throw line with 4.7 seconds remaining in regulation and the chance to give the Cavs the lead.

A career 80 percent free throw shooter, Hill made the first and clanked the second off the front of the rim, with the miss falling right into the hands of J.R. Smith.

Rather than either shoot or call a timeout, J.R. dribbled the ball out to the perimeter in an attempt to waste clock, unaware that his team, in fact, didn’t have the lead, costing Cleveland a chance at a victory.

In the overtime session, it was all Warriors, as they outscored a discouraged Cavs squad by 10, the final margin of victory.

Despite the similar free throw totals, the refs could be looked at as less than stellar in Game 1, as they made some questionable calls and no-calls throughout, including a controversial reversal of a drawn charge by LeBron James in the game’s final minute.

James put up another all-time great performance in this crushing loss, finishing with a career playoff-high 51 points on 19-of-32 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists, upping his game even more than what he’s been doing throughout the 2018 postseason.

The Cavs played about as well as they possibly could and still managed to lose this game.

LeBron had arguably his best game across his nine Finals appearances and it came in a loss.

While many may point to the refs or J.R. as culprits for the defeat, this doesn’t take away from the fact that now down 1-0, Cleveland will need to have a short memory in order to prepare for Game 2 on Sunday.