After more than a week without any game action, the two teams came out a little bit rusty, even if the two defenses were playing good basketball at the beginning. C Andrew Bogut was good inside and PG Irving was very aggressive on Steph Curry and forced him to lose some balls. That was a total team effort on defense by the Cavs, as the Warriors couldn’t established their game, they had no tempo : they shot 6/21 in the 1st period, scoring only 19. PF Thompson was once again so important on the offensive glass, and J.R. Smith was efficient from down town. With 10 more boards after 12 minutes, the team from Ohio leaded by 10 entering the 2nd quarter. With LeBron James on the bench and the two benches on the court, Golden State started to find their game, highlighted by Iguodala, Speights or Barbosa, who accelerate the tempo and start to drain shots. PG Curry was on his game and hit 2 shots from outside, as the Warriors crowd started to poke fun at James, who came back and hair balls a couple of shots. The Akron native was not impress and still scored 19 in the 1st half, as Cleveland leaded by 3 at the break, thanks to a superb buzzer beater by Smith, thanks to a nice screen by Thompson.
The Cavs started well the 2nd half, as Kyrie Irving stepped up, scored a little bit and dished out inside to his big fella C Mozgov for a huge jam. PF Tristan Thompson was once again impressive inside, as he totally out dueled Draymond Green on the offensive glass and finished with a total of 15 boards. Klay Thompson was playing on Game 1 even with his injury and drained a couple of outside buckets, but James continued to post up on offense, as he had 31pts entering the 4th. Steve Kerr’s team was cutting and passing across screens, and they were much efficient. SG James started to have issues, as Iguodala stole one from the King and finished with a dunk : 73/73 was the score after 3. With James on the bench to start the final period, the team from the Bay area was rolling, with the « Splash Brothers », but once again, when LeBron came back, he took the Cavs offense by himself and restarted to post up Thompson. After two straight shots by Iguodala and Thompson, James tied the game with a deep shot. 98 a piece was the score late, thanks to 2 free throws by Mozgov with 30 seconds do go. Kyrie Irving defended the iron on Curry and James got the last ball. He forced his shot and was also well defended by Iguodala : we went in to an overtime to kick off this 2015 NBA Finals. Both teams started out with clumsiness, as Curry went to the free throw line to put GSW ahead. A clutch 3 by Harrison Barnes on a nice play and a superb extra pass pass by Iguodala, as the Warriors win Game 1 by 8, 108 to 100.
Even with the 44pts by James, the Warriors win Game 1 thanks to their X Factor of the bench, Andre Iguodala, as the former 76ers was huge offensively and defensively to put pressure on King James. The little starting 5 of Steve Kerr was great in the overtime session, as they move the ball well and went to the line to earn easy points. With Kyrie Irving forced to leave his team after a contact with Thompson and an apparent injury to his knee, the Cavs have work to do before to go home. Game 2 is sunday night.
Made by my collaborator Alan Guillou https://www.facebook.com/alan.guillou.5
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