Behind 29 points from Steph Curry, Golden State narrowly took care of business
Before the NBA Finals began, there was a lot of talk about how boring the series would be. It’s the fourth installment of the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Warriors are too dominant, yada, yada, yada.
Well, joke’s on them.
This game had it all. There were highlight plays from both teams, heroics from superstars LeBron James (51 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) and Stephen Curry (29 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists), and back-and-forth action from the opening whistle until the final buzzer.
The Cavs jumped out to an early lead, at one point leading Golden State by 11 points, before the Dubs tied things up at halftime. Not surprisingly, the Warriors came out of the halftime gates firing, and grabbed a nice lead, but Cleveland wasn’t going away.
The teams swapped leads multiple times in the final minute of the fourth quarter, in a crazy sequence of events. James made an and-one that gave the Cavs a two-point lead, before Kevin Durant was called for an offensive foul. After replay review, the call was changed to a blocking foul, and Durantmade both free throws to tie the game.
James then made a go-ahead layup, but Curry answered with an and-one to put the Warriors ahead. The Cavs had the ball, down one, with the shot clock turned off.
Then the true madness ensued. The Warriors hounded James, but Klay Thompson was whistled for an off-ball foul with just 4.7 seconds left. George Hill stepped to the free throw line, and calmly made the first free throw to tie the game. He missed the second, but JR Smith grabbed the offensive rebound. Smith, however, thought the Cavs were winning, so dribbled the ball to halfcourt to try and avoid a foul and let the clock run out.
And that’s exactly what happened. Only instead of giving the Cavs the win, it sent the game to overtime. And once there, the Warriors dominated.
They scored the first nine points of overtime, and it never got close after that.
But things did get exciting! With just 2.6 seconds left in overtime, Tristan Thompson was ejected. Curry, Klay Thompson, and James were talking, and getting a little bit chippy. Tristan Thompsonthen fouled Shaun Livingston, and was immediately ejected for a flagrant 2 foul.
Draymond Green egged him on a little as he left, Tristan Thompson confronted him, and proceeded to shove a basketball straight into Green’s face.
It took a while to sort things out, but when all was said and done, the Warriors won 124-114, to take a 1-0 series lead.
What a game.